Chris Chronicles
by PurpleBlaze
Summary: He lay prone. "I don't want to die," Chris slurred out, sage eyes dark with pain. Wyatt closed his eyes helplessly and tightened his grip on his brother. "I won't let you," he vowed. Surely Charmed power combined with his would be enough. It had to be.
1. Chapter 1

_**Title: Chris Chronicles**_

_**Summary: Even with a changed future, a good brother, an alive mother, and a caring father, Chris Halliwell just can't stop telling lies and finding trouble.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. Surprise!**_

**_A/N: You may notice that Chris is quite a bit out-of-character in the beginning chapters; that is on purpose. You'll get a full explanation as the story unfolds._**

Chris Halliwell tapped his pencil agitatedly against his chemistry notebook. When would he ever use this stuff in real life? Would a demon stop an attack to quickly quiz him on the properties of periodical elements? A grin flitted across Chris' face at the mental image. Normally, Chris thrived at school work. Unfortunately, being confined to the manor for the past three weeks and four days put quite the damper on Chris' ability to concentrate. Sighing with frustration, Chris stretched out his back and leaned more comfortably against the sofa cushion. He tilted his head back and carefully balanced his pencil on his nose.

"I see you're getting a lot done in here," an amused voice observed behind him.

Chris started. The pencil plummeted to the floor with a short clatter. He half-turned to see Wyatt leaning in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked in surprise as he retrieved his pencil.

Wyatt left his place against the door frame and walked all the way into the room. He plopped down on the sofa next to Chris, who snatched his legs out of the way just in time.

"I had a free night and realized I hadn't seen my family in awhile, so here I am." He looked around the unusually quiet house. "Where are our folks?"

Chris shrugged. "Dad's probably working late at Magic School and Mom's probably working late at the restaurant. One of her chefs called in sick." Five years earlier Piper had opened the restaurant she always dreamed of.

"Listen," Wyatt said. "Me and some friends are going to the concert at P3 tonight. You should come." Unlike Wyatt's other friends with little siblings, he actually liked it when Chris tagged along.

With a grimace Chris stated, "Can't. I'm still grounded, remember?"

Wyatt's eyebrows shot halfway up his forehead.

"Still?" He asked incredulously. "Going to a cop-raided party is bad, but not worth a month of no music, TV, or contact with the outside world."

Chris suddenly became very interested in the problem he was working on in the Chemistry book. "That's just Mom and Dad for you."

Wyatt's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He knew his little brother well.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I may have gone demon hunting while I was still grounded," Chris admitted. Even though he mumbled his words, Wyatt still heard him. His expression immediately jumped from suspicion to anger.

"What?" he demanded sharply. "You know you're not supposed to demon hunt alone!"

"I was bored," Chris stated dully. It was a weak defense and he knew it.

Wyatt, visibly upset, stood up. "All it would take is a single stray fireball and one slow reflex for you to be gone forever. Do you think I-" Wyatt cut himself off, too distressed to continue.

Wyatt learned at a young age to value his brother's life. Too many close calls in the family taught him that. As a result, the two brothers had always shared a close bond. Not to say that they didn't have their fair share of petty spats over the years.

Wyatt sat back down. "Just promise me the next time you get bored and want to kick demon ass you'll call me first and we'll do it together. I'll drop everything."

"Only if it goes both ways," Chris replied, not really expecting agreement. Wyatt was more than able to take care of himself. After all, he was the most powerful being on the entire planet. The bottom line was that Chris was the only one of the two Charmed Sons that needed protection.

"We'll see. Just promise me Chris."

"Sheesh. Just chill Wy. I promise."

Wyatt looked toward the kitchen and missed Chris' melancholy expression. "I'm starving. If you're bored you can make me a sandwich."

"Make your own twice-blessed sandwich. Every time you come home you do nothing but eat. I swear they don't feed you at college."

"You'll learn next year when you're a freshman; never pass up a chance at a free meal." With a laugh Wyatt messed up Chris' hair before darting into the kitchen.

Deciding that anything would be far more fun than Chemistry, Chris followed.

The front door to the manor opened to reveal Piper. She immediately caught sight of her youngest son's school papers strewn around the sitting room. He better not be playing video games again, she thought.

She loved both her children with all her heart, of course. But somehow Chris seemed harder to deal with on a day to day basis than Wyatt ever was. If Chris wasn't pushing his boundaries every chance he got, he was sick. Add that on top of the nightly dreams of a parallel world and she and Leo had a handful.

Balancing a sack of groceries on her hip, Piper placed her purse on the hall table. She heard the lilting drawl of her youngest son followed by the infectious laughter of her eldest.

Both came into view. Wyatt, golden and open, stood at the counter piling assorted condiments onto rye bread. Chris, catlike and lithe, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Dinner's in an hour," Piper commented.

Wyatt, always cheerful, replied, "I know. That's why I'm keeping my pre-dinner snack light."

Piper rolled her eyes as Wyatt carved four generous slices of leftover ham. That kid had to have hollow legs or a magically induced metabolism based on how much food he could shovel away.

Chris pushed off the wall he held up and helped his mom pull groceries out of her bag. He opened a cabinet to put away a bag of potato chips. Wyatt pulled the bag out of Chris' hand.

"It's my pre-dinner snack's side dish," he defended himself.

Piper said, "I saw your school books on the couch Chris. Have you finished your homework?"

"Of course mom," Chris lied smoothly. "I promised I'd do it as soon as I got home from school, and that was two hours ago." In actuality, Chris had been home for merely forty-five minutes. He had hung with some friends for awhile after school because he knew neither of his parents would be at the manor. Piper gave Chris a proud smile. "Good job Peanut."

Chris felt guilty. He would finish his homework everyday right after school from here on out, he swore to himself. No more getting caught up with pick up games of soccer.

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After everyone finished eating at seven Wyatt and Piper left for P3 to help the band set up. Chris and Leo cleaned up the kitchen before Leo headed upstairs to grade his students' papers. Chris wandered around the house. Finally he moseyed up to the attic out of pure boredom. Heaven forbid he finish his Chemistry.

He nosed through the book of shadows before spotting an open map of San Francisco left out on a table. Chris located the scrying crystal in a dresser drawer and ran the chain through his slender fingers. Idly he hung the chain over the map and halfheartedly scryed for evil. It dropped quickly. He didn't even bother to look where it landed. He would be in so much trouble if he even thought about going on a wild evil chase. Another idle spin of the crystal landed it in another part of the city. He picked it up again and scried a third time. He mildly noticed as he went to pick it up that it stuck to his high school. Oh well, it was probably his gym teacher. Mr. Bernelli was pretty demonic about his work outs.

A fourth crystal drop landed on the golden gate bridge. A fifth landed on Apple Orchard Blvd. Bored, Chris went to lift the crystal back up for a sixth round.

Suddenly he froze. He focused in on where the innocent white gem pointed. He knew that house. He had gotten busted by the cops at wild party there just last month. His best friend's girlfriend lived there. She was in danger! Without thinking Chris began to mutter an impromptu spell. "_I don't want my family to notice me missing; let them not summon me through any bewitching_." It wasn't the greatest spell, but he would only be gone for five minutes or less. He started to orb. As he did so he put up a magical block. He could only hope that Wyatt would be too busy to notice. In second he stood on Jessica's porch. Should he knock or barge in? What if Jessica and her family were being killed right at that moment? He never had a chance to decide. A sharp pain shot the back of his head. The ground rushed up to meet his unconscious body.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris couldn't be sure of the first sensation he became aware of. It could have been the foggy consciousness in the back of his brain, the feel of mushy leaves under his limp body, or even the distant cries of bickering owls. The sensation that snapped him fully into reality was the darkness. It had barely been past dusk when he orbed to Jessica's house. Now it was very dark with the waning moon perched high in the night. Chris didn't have his cell phone on him (he was grounded, after all) so he couldn't check the time.

He trembled. He orbed slowly and hovered in a swirl of orbs hesitantly. Where should he go? He had half a mind to orb straight into his bed and act as if he had been there the whole time. His family was not stupid; they would catch him.

He decided to bite the bullet and orbed into the manor's foyer. A loud ruckus rose at the sight of his telltale glowing entrance. Angry faces surrounded him. Very, _very_ angry faces. His mother's livid expression loomed in his view.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell! Where in the world have you been?" She didn't give him a chance answer before barreling on. "How DARE you sneak out of this house. Do you have any idea what time it is?!" Once again she answered for him. "It is FOUR in the MORNING kiddo. On a school night nonetheless! Where were you? And why would you block anyone from sensing or summoning you? That's what makes me the angriest! Answer me when I'm talking to you!" Her voice pitched higher and higher as she worked herself up into frenzy. She leaned forward and shook Chris by his shoulders.

Leo put a restraining hand on his wife's arm, but Chris saw no sympathy for him on his father's face when he searched it.

"I-, I-," Chris stuttered out. Why wasn't his brain backing him up? No plausible explanation formed into full sentences in his brain. His parents and aunts would have seen the scrying crystal. There was no use pretending he blocked himself off to do anything else. Finally he choked out, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not going to do it this time mister. You misuse your magic all the time, but to deliberately… argh!" She threw her hands up in the air and turned to Leo. "I can't talk to him, he's your son."

"Chris," Leo said quietly. "We've been discussing a proper punishment while you were missing. Being grounded hasn't ever worked because you've always had your powers to break the rules. We've decided to strip you of your powers as punishment for lying to us and sneaking out into danger."

Chris felt flummoxed. Take away his powers? They had threatened before, but to actually do it? A small bubble of anger began to boil in place of his apprehension.

"You can't do that to me," he protested. "I need them to protect myself in case of a demon attack."

"We'll arm you with potions, and your Aunt Paige and Wyatt will orb to you in a flash if you're ever in danger."

A stunned emerald gaze swept the stony faces circling him: his parents, his aunts, Wyatt, and Phoebe's oldest daughter (all his other cousins were no doubt in bed).

Piper backed up until she stood shoulder to shoulder with Phoebe and Paige. Chris noticed the piece of paper in Paige's hand.

"Right now?" he asked dazedly.

Nobody directly answered him, but the fact that the Charmed ones were chanting a limerick spell gave the answer away.

_"Because Chris ignored our firm expectations_

_He will now be given these limitations:_

_No orbing, No telekinesis, no potion making_

_No spell casting, nor basic human limits forsaking_

_Until graduation he may have no deviations"_

As they rhymed out his prison sentence, Chris couldn't believe this was happening to him. He felt the noose of time already slipping around his neck. The Charmed Ones finished their power of three spell and looked up at Chris. His mouth flapped open and shut like a fish stranded on dry land. Because Chris no longer had any blocks up, Phoebe could empathically feel his torrent of emotions. Strong feelings of helplessness, anger, and grief assaulted her senses.

Before anyone could say anything Chris shot up the stairs. His bedroom door slammed loudly above them seconds later.

"Let him be until morning," Phoebe advised quietly as Piper moved for the stairs. "He already feels guilty enough. I can feel it."

Piper nodded.

"Thanks for being here tonight you all."

"That's what family is for," Paige said airily. "We'll see you all later." She put her arms around Phoebe and Peyton. Blue swirls outlined the three silhouettes momentarily before dissipating.

"You should probably get back to campus now," Piper advised Wyatt tiredly. "You have class in four hours."

Trying to make the mood lighter, Wyatt joked, "That's the beauty of college mom. Class is a suggestion rather than a requirement." Judging by Piper's face it was too early for humor. He pecked Piper on the check, nodded at Leo, and then orbed to his dorm. Wyatt was keenly aware of the missing magical connection that he and Chris had shared all their lives.

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_**A/N: I love constructive criticism! Rip me apart so that I can get better.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

_"I own Park Place," Victor Bennett crowed. "Cough up the money kid."_

_With a groan, Chris laboriously counted out half his fake savings into his grandpa's hand._

_Victor rolled the dice and moved his car forward three spaces._

_"So," he asked, "Do you want burgers or spaghetti for dinner?"_

_"Burgers," Chris replied._

_"And what are your plans for tonight?" Victor continued casually._

_Chris rolled his eyes at his grandpa's obvious probing. "Not going out on a date or anything. Just the usual demonic faction stakeout."_

_"Chris," Victor began._

_"Don't even start Grandpa," Chris interrupted. "I have to do this sort of thing if I want to relay what Wyatt's doing to the Resistance."_

_"I just worry about you kiddo."_

_"I can take care of myself."_

_Victor sighed as he drew a community chest card, and it wasn't because he had to go straight to jail. "You shouldn't have to if the world was right. You should act like a kid. This means going to school, getting ready to graduate, having a girlfriend, not almost dying on a weekly basis…"_

_Chris laughed with no humor. "I'm right on social par. Dropout rates are up 45 thanks to you-know-who and his you-know-what." He threw the dice across the board with more force than necessary, which caused them to roll off the table. When he leaned off his chair to recapture the cubes, his shirt rolled up to reveal a fresh, angry scar. Pain briefly crossed his face. Victor noticed._

_"You should have your father heal that."_

_Chris straightened back up. "And give him the chance to lecture me? I don't think so. Besides, he's too busy hiding refugee wiccan children and researching how to turn Wyatt good. If Leo is concerned about my well being he can just check up on me like a normal father!"_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

An annoying shrill broke through the silence. Chris, in the real world, sat up with a start. He was surprised that he had fallen asleep at all. It felt like he had tossed and turned for hours. The fact that he had dreamed about the unchanged future gave the obvious clue that he had indeed drifted off.

For his entire life, Chris dreamed about his 'other life'. It had been fun when he was little because he dreamt about normal things like eating with his family, playing with toys, and hanging with friends. The fun part had taken a drastic turn four years ago though. After the deaths the 'other world' Charmed ones, 'other world' Wyatt turned his quest for ultimate control of the world up to scary new heights. Evil Wyatt found himself without the Charmed Ones to keep him in check, and Chris found himself without a mother to protect him from the too harsh world

Luckily the nightmares didn't seem real in the morning. They were just dreams after all.

Normally Chris orbed straight to the shower in the morning. The next month and a half would not be normal though. He rolled out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. He didn't bother to test the water's temperature before he got in; just let the cold jet wake him up more before it heated to a comfortable level.

He had always had the dreams, but last night's seemed more real than any he ever had before. The memories and emotions he experienced in the dream remained clear and sharp. He could almost still feel the wooden chair supporting his weight, cool dice in his right hand, and sharp resentment toward his perpetually absent father.

That was silly; the real Leo always dropped everything to be there for Chris.

Five minutes later Chris slouched into the dining room where breakfast awaited him on the table. Leo looked up from his newspaper when Chris walked in. He deliberately folded it up and set it down.

"Good morning, Chris."

"What's good about it?" snarled Chris. Piper walked in the room at that moment, so Chris directed his comments more at her. "I mean, what sort of cold mom would deprive her son of what makes him happiest in the world?"

"Don't be dramatic," Piper reprimanded. She sat down across from Chris. "Now eat your scrambled eggs before they get cold."

"I'm eighteen years old! I've been eighteen for the last five months. In other words, I'm an adult. You should treat me like one."

Leo hid his smile behind his napkin. "Maybe if you acted like an adult we would treat you like one. Besides, you're still in high school. You still have to follow our rules."

As Chris spooned a small portion of the commanded eggs onto his plate, Piper said. "I am sorry about what we did to you last night, we acted rashly."

"So you'll reverse the spell?" Chris asked hopefully.

"No," Piper said, effectively crushing his wish. "Even if I wanted to, the spell has to run its course. You'll get your powers back the night you graduate. That's only next month. The time will fly by," Piper encouraged. "I think that this will be good for you. You are way too dependent on your powers for the most basic things."

"Isn't it enough of a punishment that I don't have my powers? Do I have to be grounded too?"

Piper and Leo exchanged looks. "No, we think that you'll suffer enough without being confined to the house too."

Chris poked at his eggs without eating them. "That's good at least."

Piper passed a basket of muffins around the table. "I just hope you learned your lesson. Don't think you're not getting another lecture about just whatever you did last night later this evening mister."

Leo picked up where his wife left off with a patented whitelighter speech. "We give you rules and guidelines because we love you Chris. They are for our peace of mind, but more importantly, for your safety. Responsibility comes with-"

Chris let his dad ramble on while his mind wandered. He hadn't thought about it until just now, but what _had_ happened to him for eight hours. What demon would knock him out and leave him in the middle of nowhere? As a Charmed son, he was quite the worthy kill. Or at least make great leverage against the power of three or his powerful Twice Blessed brother.

He caught sight of the clock and yelped. He would have to worry about that later. Now that he couldn't orb straight to school he had a bus to catch.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris felt extremely uncool being the only senior on a bus full of underclassmen. He didn't have a car like most of his fellow upperclassmen because driving was so slow when you could get to your destination in literally the blink of an eye. The bright yellow transport dropped him off in his neighborhood along with three freshman and a sophomore.

He jogged up the manor's front steps and barged in. A series of small explosions greeted him. He followed the sound into the kitchen where his mom and Aunt Paige stood around the stove. Phoebe sat on the counter with her legs dangling down.

"Power of three potions?" Chris asked redundantly.

All three nodded. Piper set down her stirring spoon. She walked over in order to kiss Chris on the cheek.

"How was school?"

"Quite awful thank you."

"Aw, it'll get better," Paige said as she ladled a slimy potion into glass vials. "And if not you'll be out of there soon."

"Have you decided where you want to go to college yet?" Phoebe asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Chris evaded. He had been accepted to many schools, but he still couldn't make up his mind.

Piper indicated to a pile of already filled vials sitting out on the counter. "Those are for you Peanut."

Chris walked over to examine them closer.

"Explosion, smoke sheild, flesh burning…" Piper pointed to each vial as she named it. "You're going to need to carry these with you in case you're attacked."

"Don't forget that I'm always a call away too," piped up Paige. Paige poured the last of her potion into a bottle and dropped the pan into the sink. "Speaking of which, one of my charges is calling me. See you all tomorrow!" Paige orbed away.

"What's tomorrow?" Chris asked disinterestedly.

"Laura's and Grace's eleventh birthday party," supplied Phoebe. Laura and Grace were Paige's and Henry's twin girls.

"Great," Chris replied. "Henry, Warren, and I can all hang out in our unmagical lump." Paige's son Henry Jr. went by his middle name to avoid confusion. Henry and Paige adopted him when he was an infant.

"Don't be so blue." Phoebe jumped down from where she sat on the counter. Piper and Chris trailed behind Phoebe as she walked through the dining room toward the front door. She snatched up her keys and purse along the way. "I have to go pick up Pandora from elementary school before her teacher has a cow that I'm late again."

Phoebe half-hugged Piper with one arm. "I'll see you both at the twins' party," Phoebe said as she then passed her nephew. She patted him on the shoulder as she went by. The second her hand came into contact with him she gasped. Her eyelids snapped shut on their own accord.

_Her future self is in a church. She looks down at her black dress. Her gaze sweeps sideways to see Coop, Peyton, Persephone, and Pandora lined up in a pew. They are all wearing somber colors. Peyton and Pandora weep openly. A mahogany coffin rests in front of the altar. Her sight flashes down to the funeral program she holds. Fancy font reads: _

_Christopher Perry Halliwell_

_November 5, 2004 to ---------- -023_

_Her thumb covers the month and day of death._

Phoebe pulled out of the vision back to the present. Chris looked at her weirdly.

"Did you have a premonition Aunt Phoebe?"

Phoebe wore the bright smile she always wore when unsure of how to act.

"No silly!" She laughed unconvincingly, "I just remembered I forgot to pick up my dry cleaning today." She pulled her hand off Chris' shoulder. "Piper? Can I see you alone in the kitchen?"

"Weren't you just leaving to pick up Pandora?"

"That can wait. I'm always late anyway."

Without waiting for Piper to reply Phoebe grabbed Piper's arm and propelled her into the privacy of the kitchen.

"Phoebe! Slow down."

"Listen Piper," Phoebe hissed. "I just had a premonition that Chris dies."

Horror washed over Piper's face. "What?! How?!"

"I don't know," Phoebe admitted. "I just saw the funeral. All I could tell is that he dies in 2023."

"This is 2023!"

"You think I don't know that?"

Piper reached out to steady herself on the nearest cabinet. She had a sudden headache. It took until her lungs hurt to realize she was holding her breath.

"Are you telling me something is going to kill my son this year, and we don't have a single inkling as to what or who or how?"

Phoebe gathered her upset big sister into a hug.

"I promise Sweetie. We won't let anything happen to him."

She prayed she was right.

"Hey mom?" Chris suddenly walked into the kitchen. Piper pulled away from Phoebe.

"Yes Sweetheart?"

Chris held out two potion bottles. One bottle held a pearly pink potion, and the other held a shiny red potion. "Which one is explosion and which one is flesh burning?"

Piper reached out her hand. "Let me see."

Chris dropped the vials into her waiting hand, thinking that she had a firm hold on both. She didn't. Both vials plunged to the floor. Unable to react in time, Phoebe, Piper, and Chris watched them fall in horror.

A loud boom rocked the kitchen as the glass shattered. Liquid splattered over Chris and Piper. Phoebe heard Piper wail out in pain. She could even smell the distinct smell of burning skin. No sound came from Chris though.

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_**A/N: Please Review, I'll love you forever.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

"Piper? Chris?" Phoebe gasped out. She crouched down next to Piper.

"Wyatt!?" she shouted. "Get over here right now. It's an emergency!"

Piper groaned in agony. She felt her flesh burning right off of her muscles and bones. She experienced her blood streaming all over her pretty kitchen floor.

"Hurry Wyatt," Phoebe urged under her breath. She glanced from Piper to Chris in apprehension. Her eyes widened in shock.

At that moment Wyatt orbed in the middle of the kitchen.

"What's the emer- Oh my gosh, mom!" Wyatt dropped to his knees and held his hands over her body. Golden light emitted from his open palms. It took almost two full minutes (a long time in healing standards) to knit together the bloody gashes and re-grow decimated skin.

Piper pulled out of her painful haze. She noticed how much better she felt as Wyatt worked. The moment he finished however, she sat up quickly and pushed him away.

"Now do Chris! Hurry."

Wyatt looked in confusion over his shoulder at his brother.

"but mom-"

"Now Wyatt!"

Wyatt raised his eyebrows in confusion. He leaned over Chris, who sat cross-legged on the floor. "Oooo-kay then. Where are you hurt?"

Piper stared in amazement. Her youngest son appeared completely unscathed.

"I feel fine," Chris assured her.

"But I saw the potions hit you. And those were powerful brews. I'm glad you're okay, but you should have been hurt at least a little."

"Thanks a lot mom,"

"You know what I mean."

Chris shrugged. "I have no idea. I felt the potions hit me, and they hurt for half a second before I _absorbed_ them or something." He shifted uncomfortably under the three dubious stares.

"Do you know why?" Phoebe questioned.

"I have no clue."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Later that evening Chris felt very perturbed.

"How are you feeling, Buddy?" Leo asked his son carefully.

"For the millionth time. I. Feel. Fine. Tired of everybody acting like I'm made of glass, but fine nonetheless."

Leo held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. I'll change the subject. How are your dreams lately?"

"Fine," Chris said, purposely omitting how real they felt lately. "It's pretty slow in the alternate timeline right now. Chris is busy looting out demons that are a threat to Wyatt. Same old."

"You'll tell me if anything in the other world scares you."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I'm not eight anymore.

"Just know I'm always here for you."

"I know dad," Chris replied softly. His tone brightened considerably at his next train of thought. "It is going to be sooo cool when I'm twenty-two and can see how you and mom and Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe used to act."

"I can wait," Leo said dryly. "I didn't treat the other Chris that well when he first arrived." He remembered with sadness all the fights they had had when they could have been getting to know each other better.

"It's also going to be weird when I'm twenty-three and won't have these dreams anymore."

Piper walked up to Chris and Leo then. She put her hand to Chris' forehead. "How do you feel?"

Chris didn't bother answering, just grunted. He went to stand by Wyatt, the one other adult in the room not treating him bizarrely. Wyatt stood near the table where the twins were currently unwrapping their birthday presents.

"Just what I've always wanted!" Cried Laura. She held up her Sonya the Crime Fighting Heiress action figure for all her friends to see.

"Who would have thought?" Muttered Chris sarcastically to Wyatt. The Mitchell's entire living room was covered in Sonya the Crime Fighting Heiress party decorations, including balloons, hats, streamers, and the cake.

"Not me," Wyatt said distractedly. Wyatt caught his Uncle Coop's eye. Coop stared at Chris, but looked away when Wyatt saw.

"Okay, this is getting creepy. Have you noticed how mom, the aunts, and the uncles have been acting extremely odd toward you? Ever since that fiasco in the kitchen, everybody keeps acting like you could break any minute."

Chris said dryly. "You noticed too? It must be more obvious than I thought. Because you, my dear brother, are _the _most oblivious person on the entire planet.

"I am not," Wyatt defended himself.

"Puh-leeze. This coming from the guy that couldn't see that his girlfriend was a demon who tried to kill him many, many times. Did I not warn you again and again and again?"

"Do you have to keep bringing that up? How many times do I have to admit that I was wrong and you were right?"

"I never get tired of hearing it." Chris eyed the diminishing pile of presents. It was Grace's turn next. "I'm going to ditch after presents," he decided. "We've already done the cake, so I've filled my cousin presence quota. Will you orb me to Candace's house?" He groaned. "I can't believe I have to ask and not just orb myself where I want to go."

"I'm happy to do it. Anything for my wittle bwother." Wyatt wrapped an arm around Chris' neck and pinched his cheek hard. Chris yanked out of the hold and shoved Wyatt playfully.

Warren, who sat at the table, turned and glared at them. "No roughhousing," he lectured an obvious imitation of his mother.

"Sorry cuz," Chris said. He continued his conversation with Wyatt from earlier. "This morning I walked into my room and Aunt Phoebe was rummaging around my stuff and touching everything like mad. When I asked her what she was doing she just said she was looking for a pen. Like she doesn't know where the pens in the house are!"

Wyatt nodded, amused. "Aunt Phoebe is such a bad liar."

Laura and Grace had finished opening their presents. They and their friends ran to the back of the house to play a new video game in the computer room.

Chris held his hand out to Wyatt. "Let's get out of here."

Chris and Wyatt went into the Mitchell's food pantry. Wyatt grabbed at Chris' hand and began to orb. The turquoise lights enveloped both boys, but only Wyatt's orbs went up. Wyatt solidified back next to Chris.

"Why did you pull away?"

Chris nodded pointedly to their still connected hands. "I didn't."

The Halliwell brothers stared grimly at each other. Wyatt finally voiced both their concerns. "First magic potions have no effect on you, now you can't be orbed. Did the power of three spell have a weird side effect?"

"No, the spell was very specific, but that must be it. What else could it be?"

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"Mom," Wyatt followed his mother as she went to grab a trash bag. "I don't see why you can't just drop him off at Candace's later."

Piper began to shove bright wrapping paper into the trash bag. "I want him near someone who can protect him. Besides, if you can't orb him, I'm guessing you also can't heal him if he gets injured."

Wyatt persisted. "So? He's always in danger. It's part of being a Halliwell."

"That's not the only reason."

"Well, what then?" Wyatt demanded in exasperation.

Piper seemed defeated. She lowered her voice so only Wyatt could hear. "Aunt Phoebe had a premonition that Chris will die this year. We don't know how," she added as Wyatt opened his mouth to ask. "So we don't want Chris to leave our protection until we get more info.

"Is that why Aunt Phoebe was in Chris' room this morning? Trying to get a premonition?" Piper nodded. "Why not just _tell_ Chris?"

"We don't want to worry him."

"I think Chris would want to know. Plus, then he would know there is a real reason his family acts wacko."

"Hey, watch who you call wacko mister or you're grounded." Piper closed her eyes. "And you're probably right." She smiled lovingly at her oldest son. "When did you get so wise?"

Wyatt smiled back. "It's not wisdom, it is leadership. Apparently I'm destined to be an all powerful leader of good magic or something."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Chris took the news easier than his parents expected. He didn't feel any different with the news they sprang on him. Being a Charmed son meant he was always in danger anyway. If only he still had his powers... When he got them back he would _never_ take them for granted.

He helped his family clean up after the party, then drove home with them. The Halliwells all had spaghetti for dinner. (Chris barely touched his while Wyatt heartily wolfed down four heaping helpings.) Then they watched a double feature movie show as a family. (Chris told Wyatt just because he was stuck, Wyatt could leave and have some real fun. Wyatt just gave him a look that made Chris shut up.) They all went to bed around midnight after Leo, Piper, and Wyatt set up a crystal demon alarm around Chris' room. (Chris complained that he hadn't needed a demon alarm since he was twelve, but the look Piper shot him shut him up.) Around one in the morning Chris finally fell into a fitful sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

_"You should read this when I'm done." Victor sat in his easy chair with a cigar in his mouth and a copy of 'The Scarlet Letter' open in his lap._

_Chris barely glanced up from the magic book he was reading. It was one of the few books smuggled out of Magic School before Wyatt broke the school's death and evil protection shield to use it as his headquarters._

_"Why?" he asked._

_"Even though you don't go to school anymore, you should still be properly read up on all the classics."_

_"Maybe," Chris replied noncommittally, which Victor correctly interpreted as a 'no'._

_The room succumbed to peaceful silence as both men concentrated on their chosen literature._

_**"Chris, Come here." **__Wyatt's command reverberated in Chris' head. Only Wyatt could cause physical pain when calling for someone. He straightened._

_"Wyatt's calling. See you later Grandpa."_

_A moment later he orbed into the main meeting room of magic school. Chris had attended Magic school up until his Aunt Paige died. Paige died only three months after Piper's and Phoebe's violent demises. He missed the airy, bright feel the school used to have. Now it was dirty and demon infested._

_"You rang?" he deadpanned at the imposing figure overlooking the room. He absentmindedly rubbed his ears._

_"Yes, have a seat." Evil beings rarely had a sense humor, and Lord Wyatt was no exception to that stereotype._

_Chris made no move to sit down. He clenched his fist tight. Both Chris and Wyatt waited._

_Bianca simmered into the room._

_"Did you call?" She asked, lightly rubbing her ear. Chris almost smiled. Bianca went to stand near Chris on one side of the oak table that took up most of the room. She didn't move to sit down. No one ever felt comfortable enough to sit in Lord Wyatt's presence. He didn't allow people to sit anyway unless he halfway cared about them._

_"Good. You're both here. Report to me."_

_Bianca rattled off her report with the brisk efficiency of a drill sergeant. "My team and I killed fourteen renegade witches this week." Chris felt sickened at the number. "We captured two witches suspected of being part of The Resistance. They're in cells 15 and 17 for questioning." Chris' stomach flipped. Did he know the two witches whom were about to be tortured to the brink of sanity? He fervently hoped not._

_"Very good. You'll receive a bonus in your pay," Wyatt said briskly. He turned toward Chris and waited expectantly._

_"My team and I killed thirty seven renegade demons. We found the location where the largest resistance faction has been meeting. We'll pick them off when they meet next. I have it staked out right now."_

_Wyatt nodded his approval. "You've done well Chris." He gave one of his rare smiles. "I know that superiority runs in our family line." He looked at Chris appraisingly. "You would be a valuable asset to my witch hunting team. It would prove your loyalty."_

_"I've proved my loyalty to you already." Chris mentally cringed at the memory. "So for the last time; I would prefer to remain on the job I have for you now."_

_Wyatt said. "What a pity. You'll see one day Chris. Mark my words. You'll see how what I'm doing will benefit the world; Particularly me and those whom I trust. I can not wait until you grow beyond the "good" complex Piper instilled into you._

_"__Mom__ knew how the world really is. Good and evil won't combine to form a middle ground."_

_"__**Insolent.**__" With a flick of his finger Wyatt made Chris fly backward. He hit the wall hard and fell forward to his knees. He stood up quickly though._

_"If you weren't my brother I'd demote you to the underground ranks so you could properly learn your place."_

_"Lucky me," Chris muttered under his breath._

_"You are both dismissed."_

_Dark orbs surrounded Chris and Bianca and they were deposited just outside the meeting room door._

_Both Bianca and Chris were doubled over in pain._

_"Like we couldn't just leave ourselves," Chris griped._

_Bianca shrugged. "Lord Wyatt likes to impress his power upon the powerful."_

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

Chris woke up. He wondered tiredly why before drifting restlessly back to sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Chris glared at the stalwart phoenix. "How can you be so cold? Fourteen innocent witches! Those were people that just wanted to live free of Wyatt's op- rule."_

_"Were you about to say oppression?" Bianca noted._

_"No."_

_"Be careful where you vent your anger little whitelighter. There are ears everywhere."_

_"What would you know about my anger?" Chris asked bitterly._

_Bianca grabbed his wrist and shimmered to a secluded garden near the golden gate bridge. Chris felt ill from the shimmer. Pure, good whiteligher magic reacted negatively to being mixed with dark magic._

_"I know plenty about the anger you feel, Chris," Bianca snarled. Her face twisted. "But unlike you, Lord Wyatt is not my brother. So I don't have a built in safety net like you do to pick and choose your battles. In this new world, magical people like myself have to obey Wyatt or perish. So can you cut all the snide remarks and rude comments you make every, single time you see me?"_

_Chris ripped his arm out of her grasp. Instead of answering he asked, "Why did you bring us here?"_

_Bianca seemed surprised. "This place has strong anti-eavesdropping spells. My mom put them up once when she murdered a witch here."_

_"Whatever." Turquoise-white light began to envelope Chris._

_"Wait," Bianca commanded. The light stopped its progress._

_"I just want you to know that I know what cause it is you truly fight for. I can help… if you would just trust me."_

_"Never going to happen," the young witch whitelighter responded before disappearing completely into thin air._

_Chris appeared in his bathroom. He ripped open the medicine cabinet in order to rifle around with its contents. A bottle of hydrogen peroxide was located followed by a washcloth. Chris poured the peroxide liberally onto the washcloth before lifting up the gauze covering his arm. Gritting his teeth, he firmly pressed the drenched cloth onto his infected wound._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris awoke. A searing pain shot through his arm. Panting, he flicked on the bedside lamp beside him. An examination of his arm revealed that there was no wound. That was weird. Chris never felt such real psychological repercussions upon waking. He knew that this was something his father would want to know right away. No, he decided firmly. This would be his little secret for the time being. He could take care of a little creepy dream side affects on his own. No need to throw his family into quadruple worry about his well being. He would never see sunshine again.

Chris threw off his covers and went to his bookshelf. He located a copy he had of 'The Scarlet Letter' that his grandpa gave to him years ago. Even though it was 3:13 in the morning, he wasn't getting back to sleep. He might as well use the time to do something useful, like catch up on his classic readings.

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_**A/N: That was a quick update. Have I earned reviews? Be honest. Do you like the alternate timeline dream sequences? I can't decide if I want them to play a large role or a small one. Either way, they are the source of Chris' psychological afflictions. The physical ones will torture him later from the real world.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

Carefully Chris put his foot down on the ledge. The other leg followed the first when he swung it out the window. Gripping the edge of the windowsill behind him, he crouched down and leapt. He almost missed the tree branch, but his right hand caught a grip just in time. The left hand joined the right to stabilize his grip. He held his breath; silence.

With a hand over hand motion, he made it to the base of the trunk and shimmied down. By the time he reached the ground, he had a plethora of nicks and scratches. He would have been better at this sneaking out of the house thing if he had ever practiced the non-magical way before. For the past week a member of his family had been near him every minute everywhere with the sole exception of school. Even there he was dropped off and picked up

Chris knew his family cared about him and they were only concerned about his safety, but he felt suffocated.

Chris jogged gaily down the sidewalk, mentally congratulating himself on a job well done. After about two blocks his cell phone began to vibrate in his jeans. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and groaned. The tiny screen grandly displayed, 'Aunt Paige Calling…'

Not wanting her to call the house after his cell, he pressed the talk button.

"Hello," Chris said in his best I-just-woke-up voice.

"Nice Try," his aunt said. "But I know you're awake. How about you turn around right now and I won't tell your parents that you snuck out of the house?"

"How did you know?" Because Chris couldn't block anymore, he had been banking on the fact that his Aunt and brother would be too busy sleeping to sense him.

"One of my charges called me. And while I was up, I just had a feeling to sense where one of my two favorite nephews was."

"Why didn't you just orb here and escort me home yourself?" bitterness made his voice hard.

"Like I told you, I'm with a charge." A scream could be heard in the back ground at Paige's end. "I gotta go. Be good!" The line went dead.

Angry, Chris whirled around and headed back toward the manor. He never asked for any of this. He kicked at trashcans and fence posts as he headed back.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He was old enough to be independent. Taking care of himself would be second nature to him if he just could get a chance. He did not need over protective meddlers under the pretense of concern jabbing their unwanted oars into his life. He needed to do something to unleash pent up steam. Chris slammed his fist with extra force into a sturdy, wooden fence. To his surprise, his fist made a hole in the fence from his force. Something snapped painfully in his hand.

Five minutes later he realized that he couldn't get back into his own house. He couldn't shimmy up the tree like he planned because his right hand couldn't grip anything without stinging painfully. He stood by the back door, contemplating what to do. Finally he decided he only had one realistic option.

"Wyatt," he said. "Wyatt. Wyatt. Wyatt. This is Chris." He tapped his foot impatiently. "Wyatt!" He yelled as loud as he dared. Instantly his disheveled, pajama clad brother materialized beside him.

"Where's the danger?" Wyatt placed himself in front of his little brother and the night, eyes searching the darkness.

"I'm locked out of the house."

Wyatt's brain slowly woke up. "Why?" He turned around to face Chris.

"Never mind that. Can you orb in the house and let me in?"

"Yeah, first tell me why you snuck out."

"I was going to meet some friends. We wanted to sneak into the school and dye the swimming pools."

Wyatt didn't comment. He orbed inside and opened the door for Chris.

"Why didn't you just use the door in the first place? Mom and Dad aren't that light of sleepers."

Chris ducked his head sheepishly. "I always wanted to do the window thing. It's a classic."

A light came on in the upstairs hallway.

Wyatt flicked his finger.

Leo walked down the room and looked around. He turned and left the room where his two sons stood openly in the middle.

"I'm not getting caught, right?" Chris whispered.

"Don't worry," Wyatt reassured. "I put a hologram around us. Dad just saw an empty room. When he peeks in your room he'll see you sound asleep."

He knew for a fact Wyatt would never tell his parents. They were brothers; they always watched each other's back unconditionally.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Anything?" Phoebe watched her middle child wander around Jessica Miller's porch.

"I don't see anything mom," Persephone replied.

Phoebe sighed. "It was worth a shot. Let's go back to the car."

Persephone was gifted with a magic similar to her mother's, except she could only see into the past, and only then if she was in the occurrence's physical location. She knew more about the family's dirty little secrets than any of her cousins. Suddenly Persephone halted her step. Her eyes closed and her breathing took on an irregular patter. Phoebe watched raptly.

"Did you see anything?" She demanded the second Persephone's eyes fluttered open. Persephone nodded proudly.

The Miller's front door opened. A man stared at them, surprised to see two strangers at his doorstep.

"Can I help you?" he asked suspiciously.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, could you tell us where the Shmelbauchers live?"

"No, can't say that I can."

"Okay, we'll try somewhere else then. We're new in town and the Shmelbauchers were going to show us around, but it turns out that we need them to even find where they live." An unnatural laugh ensued. Phoebe grabbed Persephone's elbow and guided her down off the porch. "Let's go try somewhere else now, shall we?"

Persephone climbed into the passenger side of her mom's black Range Rover while Phoebe walked around to the driver's side.

"I'm glad that I got a helpful vision," Persephone admitted as she buckled her seatbelt. "My power is so useless most of the time that I'm proud when I can use it to actually do something helpful."

Phoebe put the vehicle into drive. "It's pretty hard to have an inactive power when most of your cousins have really cool active powers," she empathized, remembering back to when all she had were premonitions while Prue and Piper could TK and freeze.

"Besides, it could be worse," said Phoebe.

"How?"

"Imagine how Warren feels. His sisters can astral project and he doesn't have a power at all." To Paige's surprise, her twin girls had yet to show any whitelighter power. Instead they both adopted their late Aunt Prue's power. Being identical twins, that power made it super easy for them to switch powers at the drop of a hat.

"You're right," Persephone agreed. "Pandora's power stinks too. All she can do is levitate three feet off the ground. At least I can see cool things from the past."

"Don't bring it up to your little sister. You wouldn't want Peyton to tease you about how much cooler her power is than yours."

"Chris and Wyatt are so lucky. They have the neatest powers than any of us. Especially Wyatt!"

"Bumble Bee, _nobody_ has neater powers than Wyatt."

The conversation came to an end when Phoebe pulled into the manor's driveway. When mother and daughter stepped inside, they smelled something delicious.

"Aunt Piper's baking." Persephone announced the obvious.

"She does that a lot when she's stressed. Go get your aunt and bring her up to the attic." Persephone ran off while Phoebe climbed the stairs to the attic. She found Paige sitting on an antique couch flipping through the Book of Shadows.

"Did you find anything?"

Paige said, "No. I've been through the book four times and I have no idea what I'm looking for." Phoebe peered at the book over Paige's shoulder.

"Our luck is about to change now that Persephone has received a vision."

Paige and Phoebe looked up as their big sister charged into the attic armed with a plateful of cookies. Persephone at her heels with cookie crumbs on her face. Paige ducked her head back down and Phoebe stood up to relieve Piper of the cookies.

"Wyatt," Phoebe called.

Piper told Persephone, "Go get Chris. He should be here because this concerns him."

She returned later dragging her bed draggled cousin behind her.

"Were you still asleep?" Piper asked her son. "It's afternoon."

"Yeah, well, I didn't sleep well last night." Paige rolled her eyes, but didn't look up from the Book of Shadows.

"What's taking Wyatt so long?"

The blond twenty year old orbed in then.

"I'm like a lap dog around here," he complained good-naturedly. "Anyone calls and I heel."

"But you don't mind if it's for your family," correctly stated Phoebe.

Wyatt just smiled.

Paige told Wyatt, "Pers got a vision, so do your projection thing so that we can all see."

Wyatt immediately went over to his little cousin and placed his fingers elegantly on her temples.

"Open your mind to me and think about your vision."

A 3D scene appeared. The entire group watched in tense concentration.

_The scene is Jessica's house. A dark figure perches on the roof, cloaked by shadows. The figure sits for many minutes until Chris orbs onto the porch. His eyes are wide and uncertain. The waiting demon leaps down and slams a rock hard fist into the back of Chris' skull. His body crumples to the ground. The demon drags Chris' unconscious body, holding it by the foot, down the porch stairs. Across the lawn, into the backyard, through the back fence, across a deserted park, into a clump of trees; the demon keeps up a persistent pace. The demon measures in at at least seven feet. Bulging muscles were covered in dark skin. His nose is large and squashed, and small horns curl down along his temples. He resembles a large bull._

_He pulls a tube and a vial from his cutoff pants, the only clothing he wears. Dark demon shoves a two foot tube down Chris' throat. Carefully, the dark demon pours the black liquid from the vile into the tube. Black fluid trickles down the clear plastic into the witch whitlighter's innocent body. The veins under Chris' skin pop up and turn an unnatural black. The dark demon roughly yanks the tube out of Chris' body and shimmers away. Chris' black veins turn back into a normal blue before sinking back into his skin._

"What the hell was that?" Wyatt exclaimed when the projection faded. Everybody thought similar expletives.

Phoebe said, "You were unconscious for hours. That's why it took so long for you to come home that night."

"What did he do to you?" Piper took Chris' head in between her hands and examined him, as if she could see anything wrong if she scrutinized hard enough. Chris pulled his hand out of her grasp.

"Let's be calm about this," reasoned Phoebe. "What do we know so far?" Phoebe started out for herself by lifting up her pointer finger. "One, potions have no effect on Chris." She held up a second finger. "Two, whitelighter and wiccan powers have no effect on Chris. Three, he _can_ be hurt by normal, non-magical means."

"Four," added Paige. "Spells _do_ work on him. We stripped his powers using a spell."

"True, but that was a power of three spell, the most powerful magic there is. Let's test this out."

Taking the book of Shadows from Paige, Phoebe randomly flipped through it. "This one will do." Phoebe briskly opened a packet of herbs into a bowl and added a dash of salt. She looked at Chris and chanted.

"_Something wicked in our midst_

_In human form these spirits dwell_

_Make them animals sayth the spell."_

Nothing happened.

"Okay, Piper and Paige, come read this with me." The beckoned women read together.

"_Something wicked in our midst_

_In human form these spirits dwell_

_Make them animals sayth the spell."_

A brown bunny sat where Chris had been standing a minute before.

"He's so cute," squealed Persephone. She scooped up Chris and petted him fondly. The fuzzy bunny made an un-bunny-like squeal of pain when his paw brushed up against Persephone's arm.

"Okay, we now know that Power of Three is the only thing that works on him. Let's change him back."

"Let Wyatt try first. We need to see if him casting a spell works on Chris too. Put down Chris Pers." Persephone put Chris back down front paws first. The bunny squealed when his right paw touched the floor and rolled sideways. "Come here Wyatt and read this."

Wyatt obediently went over to the book and read where Phoebe pointed.

"_Undo the magic acted here_

_Reverse the spell so all is clear."_

A now human Chris stood in the attic.

"I realized something," Chris said suddenly. "That demon was definitely waiting for me. I didn't think of this before, but when I was randomly scrying for evil, the crystal landed only on places that I would go to."

Silence set in as everybody absorbed this new information. "There must be something about being a bunny that clears my head," Chris said sardonically.

Wyatt shook himself out of his stupor, "I could arrange that permanently."

"Ooooh, could you? Please?" asked Persephone. Chris didn't like the way his cousin eyed him.

With a purpose now, Piper jumped in charge. She broke the Charmed One's contemplative, horrified silence with brisk instructions. "Okay, Phoebe, you write a spell to summon that evil-son-hurting demon that was waiting for Chris. Paige, check the Book of Shadows to see what it was. I'm going to see if there is any way at all we can give Chris his powers back. Chris, go show your hand to your father. You're bunny self showed us that it might be broken. Persephone, you can go watch TV honey."

"What about me?" Wyatt demanded.

"You go check out every place that Chris would go to in order to see if there are any of those demons left. Probably not, but better safe than sorry. And after that you can go study for your Political Science exam. Now every body scat!"

"How does she know these things? It's creepy," Wyatt muttered to Chris as they quickly exited.

"It's mom. You're still surprised at this point?"

"Touché."

Piper picked up a paper with the power stripping spell and sank onto the antique couch. "Surely there's a loophole in the spell's deadline somewhere."

Paige picked up the book and sat beside Piper. Their two knees touched.

"I hope Chris doesn't get up to his normal trouble until we figure this out for him."

Phoebe put her hand on Piper's shoulder in support.

"_For Chris, following the rules is not a familiar sensation_," Paige commented dryly, thinking of last night's act of rebellion.

"_Until graduation… he may have no deviation_," Piper read aloud. She stared intently at the paper in her hand. "There has got to be a way around that."

Unwittingly, the girls cast a power of three spell. Phoebe took her hand off Piper's shoulder while Piper and Paige focused on their work.

Chris, meanwhile, glowed white briefly. He had been ignoring his mother's order to find his dad, but suddenly he realized that it would be rude to disobey. He found Leo sitting at the kitchen table. "Dad, my hand is broken. Could you have a look at it?"

Leo looked up. "Of course, come here."

Chris sat in the chair next to his father and held out his hand. Even though Leo handled the hand tenderly, Chris still winced in pain.

"It's definitely broken. I'll go get the supplies to set it and wrap it."

"Thank you father. You are very kind to me."

"How did this happen?"

"I punched it through a fence."

"What? Why?"

"I felt very angry, but I don't anymore."

"Chris, you should be able to talk about your feelings. I'm always here. Do you want to talk now."

"I told you father, I am fine now. Better than ever."

Leo quickly procured the necessary medical supplies. Sometimes it was handy to have a former doctor in the family. As he wrapped Chris' broken hand he asked, "What are your plans for today son?"

"I will clean my room today, a deep cleaning. It should take up a couple of hours."

Leo gave his son a weird look. "Did you hit your head too?"

Chris chuckled. "Oh father, you are so humorous."

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_**A/N: I'm very impressed at the Charmed reviewers. Most other fandoms I write for taper off on the reviews as the story progresses. Here, the reviews have doubled since the first chapter. A heartfelt thank you from me!**_

_**I'd also like to thank cdfe88 for giving me the idea for the spell gone awry. Next chapter will have Chris being the perfect, Stepford-style son. Any suggestions on what you would like to see?**_

_**If you see any inconsistencies in the plot, please let me know so I can fix them. That goes for grammar problems, too.**_

_**I'm sorry that there hasn't been much Chris whummpage yet, but it's my style to build these things up.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

After Phoebe took her hand off Piper and then went to grab a notebook and a pen to work on her assignment. She sat daintily at the edge of a chair and poised her pen. She paused. Something in her head felt… off, yet she couldn't pin down what.

Phoebe chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen. She jotted down a line, crossed it out, and began to write again.

It came to her suddenly. Every single member of the Halliwell family at one point or another had drunk the potion that kept her from sensing their emotions. Unfortunately, a side effect to Chris' recent dilemma was that she could sense his. She respected his privacy and tried not to focus on him, but for the past three weeks it had been impossible not to sense wave after wave of bitterness and anger rolling of the eighteen-year-old. She herself would have to make a conscious effort not to lash out at Piper, Leo, or Wyatt in Chris' anger.

Phoebe would never have known any of this for a fact had she not felt it. To this day she was amazed at her middle nephew's ability to compose himself and keep his sentiments from surfacing.

The little innate liar, she thought, uneasily proud. Chris' anger directed at Piper and Leo she understood, but she did not comprehend Chris' hostility toward his older brother, and Wyatt had done nothing to deserve it that she knew of. The two had always shared a close bond.

When she realized the off feeling in her brain, she consciously focused on Chris. He felt happy; a mood uncommon in him lately. Something else was off too. His emotions were glazed, slick even, under her scrutiny. A trait she found that stupid people tended to convey. The disturbing part was Chris was nothing if not clever.

"Found it," Paige announced triumphantly. Abandoning her concerns, Phoebe dropped her forgotten spell to join her sisters.

The book showed a drawing of the dark skinned demon that had hidden Chris' unconscious body. "A Taursax," Paige read aloud, "a lower level demon that is part of a hive. Tarusaxes always work for hire as a colony."

"There's a summoning spell," Piper interrupted. Her eyes had jumped immediately to the bottom of the page. She wanted to know _now_ what had been done to her son.

"Cool your jets." Paige ran her finger down the page quickly. "Let's see if there are any nasty surprises we should know about ahead of time." Dark eyes flitted across the calligraphy. "See here, it says they always seek find, protect, and avenge one another. So we should expect an attack sometime after we summon one."

"Okay," Piper said briskly. She moved to retrieve some crystals from a nearby box.

"Right now?" Phoebe asked.

"Can you think of a better time?" Piper always became cranky and impatient when a member of her family was at risk. She needed action. "We're all right here."

"No, no, of course you're right," Phoebe replied hastily. "Let me help you with that."

The power of three prepared to summon a demon.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Hey little brother, what's happening?" Chris looked up from alphabetizing his bookshelf.

"Hello Wyatt."

Wyatt stared around interestedly at his little brother's room. His clothes were hung up perfectly in color order and from longest to shortest. The top drawer of his dresser was open, so Wyatt could see every sock and boxer neatly folded and lined up. The neurotic kid was normally tidy, but usually it was in reason. He shrugged. It wasn't unusual for Chris to get a cleaning kick. Wyatt was the messy one of the two.

"Apparently you're going stir crazy," Wyatt commented dryly. "I arrived just in time. What say you and I ditch the rents?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know how much you hate having a babysitter, and I am willing to spring you from prison." Chris did not say anything. Wyatt continued. "I'll tell mom that I'm taking you with me to my dorm party. I'll go to that, but I'll drop you off wherever you want first. Then I'll swing by and pick you up later."

Chris looked at Wyatt in shock. Wyatt interpreted this as shock that his big brother was willing to break rules. Wyatt was the straight and narrow, law abiding brother. He didn't have Chris' patented rebellious streak.

"I can't do that," Chris whispered. He turned back toward his bookshelf. For Wyatt's sake he was willing to overlook this transgression.

Wyatt grabbed his little brother's arm to haul him to his feet.

"Sure you can. It's fool proof!" Wyatt propelled Chris out the door and down the hall. "Now where do you want dropped off at? Candace's house? You were complaining yesterday how you never get to spend any alone time with your newest girlfriend."

The two walked by the attic's staircase. They heard a demonic sounding shriek. They came to the attic's entrance and saw a dark skinned, muscled demon trapped in a crystal cage.

"I'll never tell," he snarled.

"We'll see," Piper said. "Paige?"

Paige sat cross-legged on the floor near a crystal. She rotated it and the monster bellowed in pain.

"Mom," Wyatt said, unfazed by what was going on in the attic. "Chris and I are headed out to my dorm."

Piper didn't look up, "Okay, do you need me to make you something to eat first?"

"No thanks," Wyatt replied. "We're good."

Piper glanced over and did a double take. "Why did you change?" Earlier Chris had been wearing a long sleeve Haywire T-shirt and jeans. For some reason, her child now wore pressed khaki pants, an oxford shirt tucked in, and brown loafers. His hair was neatly combed and parted.

"I was not presenting myself in a favorable light." Chris smoothed his unwrinkled shirt.

"uh... ooookay then," Paige said in a drawn out voice.

"How do I look?" Chris asked.

"You look very nice," Piper responded. "But isn't this look kind of,"

"Dorky?" Wyatt supplied helpfully.

"not your style." Piper finished.

Chris shook his head. "How I used to dress daily was atrocious. My ensemble portrayed me as a rebellious teenager. Not the impression one looks to achieve while in public."

"Ooookay then," Paige repeated.

Wyatt grabbed Chris and dragged him back. "See you later."

"Goodbye Mother, Aunt Paige, Aunt Phoebe," Chris said formally, nodding to each of them in turn.

"Enjoy the party kids, you're only young once."

"I am not going to any dorm party," Chris admitted. "Wyatt will be there without me however."

Wyatt laughed loudly and unnaturally. Unlike Chris, he was not a skilled liar. "He's kidding!" He punched Chris in the arm.

Piper looked at Chris, "I don't get it."

"I was not joking mother. It appears I will spend time alone with my girlfriend Candace."

Piper raised an eyebrow. Wyatt clapped his hand to his forehead.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

An hour later Wyatt and Chris arrived at Wyatt's residence Hall. They were only allowed to leave after swearing up and down that they would stay together, and Aunt Paige promised them that she would keep a sharp eye on them to make sure they did; so Wyatt better not block her 'or else'. Wyatt's school, Stanford University, was only a forty minute drive from San Francisco.

Wyatt got out of the driver's side and slammed the door of his classic 1998 Ford Falcon. He had gotten the car cheap as a fixer-upper. He liked to tinker with old cars, just like his dad. He had restored the engine and reupholstered the interior himself.

He tapped his foot impatiently as Chris got out of the car. Chris was getting on his nerves. It was Chris' and Wyatt's 'thing' to tease each other endlessly and catch up on each others lives. For the first five minutes of the car trip Wyatt had tried to joke around with his little brother, but Chris acted as if he didn't have a sense of humor. Then he proceeded to lecture Wyatt about the safety of driving the speed limit until Wyatt finally drowned him out by blasting the radio.

"What is your problem?" Wyatt said for what felt like the zillionth time that day.

"I do not have any problem. If I receive a crisis, then I will tell you right away."

"Fine, just, whatever!" Wyatt turned and headed toward the R.H.

"You are angry with me," Chris stated.

Wyatt paused his stride. "I just don't get you today man. I can't decide if you're under a spell, on drugs, or if you're just acting out."

Chris looked devastated. "I am not acting out."

Wyatt continued. "I know it can't be the former because the only ones who powerful enough to do it right now would be me, or the Charmed ones. And I know I'm not the one who turned you into a goody." Chris came around the front of the car. Wyatt rested his fingers on Chris' arm and made eye contact. "I know that usually it's dad who likes to force you into heart-to-heart talks, but I'm here anytime you need to vent too. I also know your not too happy with our parents or aunts right now. Just know I'm always on your side Chris. Always." Wyatt put his arm around Chris' shoulders and drew him in for a half hug.

Normally Chris would have made some sarcastic comment and punched Wyatt affectionately in the ribs before pulling away, but that's not what he did. To Wyatt's complete shock Chris wrapped both his arms around Wyatt and squeezed him with a bear hug.

"You are the best big brother. I appreciate how protective you are of me. I love you very much." He squeezed Wyatt's waist tighter. Wyatt put his palms flat against Chris' shoulders and pushed back. This was a bolt from the blue. Such open shows of affection were rare from Chris unless someone almost died. Even then it was 'thank-God-you're-alive' sentimentality. Normally he showed his loved ones affection in a subtler manner.

"Get in the car, Chris. We're going home. Now."

Chris obediently returned to the passenger's side and waited for the door to be unlocked. Wyatt let him in, waited for him to buckle his seat belt, then peeled out of the parking space.

"What is the matter Wyatt?"

"Number one: you never, and I do mean _never,_ 'appreciate' how overprotective of you I am. Number two: You didn't argue once when I told you to get in the car."

"You know what's best for me."

"See, there is problem number three." Wyatt pulled his cell phone from the cupholder by his hand and flipped it open.

"Dad," he said briskly into the mouthpiece. "I'm coming home right now. There's a problem…"

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

Piper put her face to her hands. "What have we done? Why do we keep ruining Chris' life?!" She groaned out.

Chris let out a hearty laugh. "Oh mom, you could never ruin my life." He reached out and pulled her into a hug. "Parents can never ruin their children's lives because they always know what is best."

"That's how we know for sure Chris is under a spell," Paige said. "He would never say that unless under the influence of magic." Wyatt nodded intensely in agreement.

Piper felt sick as she looked at her son's face. He smiled at her obtusely.

Phoebe stated regretfully, "We can't even do anything until graduation. Our accidental spell was very specific about how long it would last."

Piper ran her hand through Chris' hair. She vowed, "I'll make this all up to you Peanut. Somehow."

Chris pulled out a comb to fix his mussed locks.

Wyatt looked up the stairs. "Did you get anything useful out of the Taursax yet?"

"Not yet. It's very pain resilient, but we'll get it talking one way or another."

Henry was at the manor too, with his wife. "What about school? Are you going to send him for his last three weeks?" Everybody looked at Piper and Leo, whom were looking at each other. Watching the other's eyes, both slowly nodded.

"At least he won't get into any trouble at school," Phoebe said, looking for a bright side. "You can feel safe knowing you won't get phone call from the principal about a senior prank."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

In the high school's indoor swimming pool, the athletic director was very unhappy with his swim team. Very unhappy put it mildly. Coach Gonzales marched up and down in front of his athletes. He would pause only long enough to scowl. Chris watched his progress uncomfortably. He hated it when authority figures were angry.

"I want names," the hefty man gritted out. "If somebody doesn't speak up, I'll force the whole class to do laps non-stop, everyday until the last day of school." The coach eyed Halliwell. He knew exactly who the ringleader of school pranks was. Too bad the renegade was a genius at getting away with everything.

Chris raised his hand. "Do you have something to say, Halliwell?" Coach barked out impatiently. No doubt the kid was about to make some snarky comment and get the whole class riled up. He would bet his entire retirement fund on it.

Chris swallowed. "It was my idea Coach." There went Coach Gonzales' retirement fund.

Coach Gonzales stared at Chris slack-jawed. Chris' classmates stared with similar expressions.

"Did you do it by yourself Halliwell?" Coach finally asked.

Chris shook his head. "No, I came up with the plan, but I couldn't make it that night. Jacob, Marcus, and Brett did the actual dying." He indicated to the pool, which was a dark red.

Chris felt a jab in his ribs. He refused to look Brett, who was next to him, in the eye. He knew the betrayed expression he would find there.

"Um," Coach's anger deflated. "Detention everyday until school lets out for all four of you. None of you can participate in our last meet. And I will personally call every one of your parents today. You four can go run laps on the track for the entire period. Everybody else can go suit up."

Jacob, Marcus, and Brett glared knives at their friend. The four caught boys walked out of the heavy metals doors of the indoor pool out onto the practice track. To their credit, the three betrayed boys waited until the doors closed to turn on Chris.

"What the hell dude!" Marcus hissed loudly. He grabbed a handful of Chris' shirt and shook him.

"Coach said to confess if we did it," Chris explained. Wasn't it obvious? He wondered.

"He always asks us that! I can't believe you."

Chris began walk toward the track. "I'm sorry you don't see the error of our previous ways," he said sincerely.

"Where are you going," Jacob asked, annoyed.

Chris looked confused. "Coach said to run all period."

"Duh, but he never checks to make sure we do it. Don't you know anything anymore? He'll never know."

"But I will know I disobeyed." Chris began to run. He ran and ran for a full hour while his friends watched incredulously. He was so tired after awhile, and he wanted to rest, but coach said not to stop. With five minutes left in the period he was sweat soaked and panting uncontrollably.

Even though he was angry at Chris, Brett was still concerned. "Stop and walk for awhile dude, you'll kill yourself." The advice fell on deaf ears.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris closed his locker. After study hall all he had was Calculus, then detention. Then he could go home and de-clutter the basement. He felt soft hands covering his eyes.

"Guess who?" a feminine voice demanded.

"Candace."

"Right you are."

Chris turned to face his girlfriend of three and a half months. "May I help you Candace."

"So formal," Candace teased. "Let's go to make-out in the choir room during our study hall." She leaned forward and kissed Chris suggestively.

Chris frowned. "That would mean skipping class."

Candace laughed. "What's new? We do it all the time." Her laugh faded to nothing when she noted how serious Chris looked.

"I can not infract upon the rules set by our administrators. They know what is best for students."

Candace scowled. "If you don't want to do anything with me anymore you can just tell me. I'm a big girl. I bet you're not even 'grounded'."

Chris didn't say anything. Candace glared. "We are so over. Forget you!" Chris shrugged as she stalked away and headed to study hall.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_**A/N: I'd like to thank Altaira, cdfe88, and Artemis no Himitsu for their wonderful suggestions. I used them all!**_

_**Also, I already have a skeleton outline of the plot, but I can't hit every single thing you all want included. So please feel free to review or private message me suggestions for anything you would like to see. There is no such thing as a stupid suggestion. And on that note, if there is something you hate or want fixed in previous chapters, shout it out too.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

"Phoebe, I know you're there! Answer the phone," Piper said to Phoebe's voicemail. She looked up at the ceiling in accute exasperation. "I'm just going to keep calling until you answer." Piper hit the 'off' button of her cell. "Paige," She called. "Wyatt!" She waited a few beats and then held the five button down. She held the phone to her ear and listened to the rings.

"Hello," Phoebe answered.

"Finally!" exploded Piper. "I've called you sixteen times already."

"Oh, have you?" Phoebe asked vaguely. "I'm really swamped at work right now. I'll call you back tomorrow."

"No," Piper said firmly. "It is Sunday night. You, Coop, and your adorable daughters are supposed to be here. You _all_ are late."

Every Sunday night the All of the Halliwells and Mitchells would eat dinner together. It was a tradition that was expected of everybody. No one dared make other plans unless it was life or death dire. Except tonight.

"I left a message on your machine that we couldn't make it."

"You called the house phone when you knew we were out. You could have called mine or Leo's cells."

"Okay Piper," Phoebe tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll admit it. Chris is creepy."

"That's not true," Piper said defensively. She inched sideways until she could see the dining room from her kitchen vantage point. Chris sat ramrod straight in a chair, looking straight ahead. He didn't move an inch. "Okay," Piper admitted to Phoebe, "maybe he is a little creepy." The son Piper knew would be sneaking food right now before waiting for company. "But you have to admit, it is partly your fault."

"I know honey, but Pandora and Persephone are still mad at him for ruining game night." Chris had aggravated everybody by being such a rule stickler and taking the games, like monopoly and scrabble, _way_ too seriously. "Then Peyton is annoyed at him too. She didn't say why, but I gather that he embarrassed her in front of her crush at school."

"Fine, the kids don't have to come, but that's no excuse for you. I'll see you and Coop soon."

"But-"

"Five minutes Phoebe," Piper said in her best 'I'm-the-oldest-sister-don't-you-dare cross-me' tone.

Piper returned to calling for her youngest sister and oldest son. "Wyatt. Paige. Wyatt. Paige. Dammit Paige! You orb your scrawny butt here right now."

Blue orbs appeared beside Piper.

"You too Wyatt Matthew Halliwell. Don't think because you're in college I can't ground you." A second set of orbs appeared. Paige materialized in the kitchen followed by Wyatt.

"Mom, I have to study," he protested before Piper could talk.

She ushered her two shanghaied guests into the dining room.

"That's no excuse. I expect you for dinner every Sunday night. It's the only time I get to see you anymore." Phoebe and Coop hearted into the dining room.

"Where's Leo," asked Coop.

"I think he's hiding upstairs," Piper answered. "Wyatt, can you orb him down here." Wyatt flicked his hands and Leo appeared instantly.

"Hey," Leo shouted in surprise. He sat down hard on the floor because he was still in chair sitting position. He picked himself up. "You could have called me."

"Why were you hiding father?" Chris asked.

Leo looked uncomfortable. "Yes dad, what, or who, were you hiding from?" Wyatt asked innocently.

"I wasn't hiding."

The whole family sat down. Chairs were noisily pulled out and dishes clattered, but nobody talked.

"Where's Henry?" Coop asked. He shot his wife a 'why do I have to be here and Henry doesn't' look.

"Henry is watching Warren and the twins."

"Are not Warren, Laura, and Grace usually here on Sundays?" Chris asked.

"They're not feeling well," Paige said vaguely.

"That is unfortunate. Is the disease they carry contagious?"

"No, it's nothing big. Don't worry."

Quiet descended on the table as everybody served themselves chicken, scallops, and green beans.

Wyatt stared around at his family. He figured everybody missed Chris' real personality as much as he did. Normally everybody would be present. Chris would regal them all with anecdotes of his escapades and tease his little cousins mercilessly. Even now no one wanted to share stories or talk because Chris would ask his formal, polite questions. Only nine more really looong days until the end of the spell, he thought darkly.

Wyatt asked, "Did the taursax talk?"

"He confessed who he was working for before committing magical suicide. We are planning on going after the upper level demon boss tomorrow after a good night's sleep. Are you free? We'll need all the firepower we can get."

"Of course," Wyatt said. He wanted to catch the S.O.B. more than anything.

"Has the hive attacked yet?" He took a bite of green beans.

"We expected them sooner than this. We're not sure if they are even going to attempt to go after us."

"Well we're known for being powerful." Wyatt speared a piece of white meat.

"The weather has been lovely lately, has it not?" Chris said. Leo, Coop, and Phoebe murmured agreement. Great, Wyatt thought, here comes the forced small talk. He wondered if Piper would let him go back to Stanford before dessert. Probably not, he decided.

"How is work going with Uncle Henry?" Chris questioned.

Wyatt caught Paige shooting Chris a dirty look and hid a smile by eating a scallop. Henry and Paige were rather unhappy with their nephew. Chris had accidentally turned over certain family secrets to the police, and it caused Henry a lot of grief at work to make it blow over.

"I hear it's going good," replied Coop when Paige did not answer. "He's trying to keep up with the parolees as always. You haven't been talking to any well intentioned cops lately have you?"

"I gave my word that I would not to Uncle Henry," replied Chris solemnly. He turned to Paige. "Aunt Paige, have you been keeping our discussion in mind as you go about your duties."

Paige's jaws visibly clenched. "Of course." This time Coop, Leo, and Piper all had to cover their smiles. Phoebe choked on herchicken. Stepford Chris, as they began to call him, had pulled Paige aside out of the blue to give her a long lecture on the proper methods to use magic. For Paige was the most rule-lax of the Charmed ones.

"Has anybody viewed any pleasurable movie shows recently?" Chris asked. He asked the same questions everyday.

Piper slammed her fork down. "That's it. Let's have fun with this while we can. Chris honey, tell mom how her car got dented last March."

Chris opened his mouth to answer. "Be quiet Chris," Leo commanded. His mouth snapped silently shut.

"Piper," Leo warned. "We talked about this. We don't want to infringe on Chris' privacy. He can't censor what he says."

"Come on Leo," Paige pleaded. "We will never get this chance again."

"He is a good liar," Coop stated the obvious.

"Boys need their privacy," Leo argued.

"Let's be diplomatic about this," said Paige. "All in favor of everybody asking Chris one question each raise your hand." Every hand shot up except Leo's and Phoebe's.

"I'm with Leo," Phoebe said. Leo nodded his head gratefully at her.

"Still outnumbered."

"I'm not asking him anything, and everybody else only gets one question."

"Just one?!" Piper complained. "There are so many things a mother needs to know about her son."

"Let's see, we have to make the questions good." Paige's face lit up. She got a mischievous look in her eye. She asked her nephew, "Chris what is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you that you have not told anybody?"

Chris answered without hesitation. "Last year my then girlfriend Kaily took me with her to an Urban Expressions dance class. We both thought it was a type of hip-hop. It turns out it was a strip-tease class."

Everybody burst into peals of laugher. Wyatt's sides shook from his ill-contained mirth.

"Why did you stay?" Coop asked curiously.

"Kailey bet me twenty bucks and a massage I wouldn't stay the whole class."

"Well now we know what he can do if he's ever strapped for cash," joked Wyatt.

"That was your one question Coop," Phoebe said. As an advice columnist she knew the value of sharing things on individual terms; not force.

"But that's not fair. Follow up questions don't count." Paige protested. Phoebe glared.

"Wyatt's turn," Piper said. She needed more time to come up with a good question.

Wyatt felt sorry for his little brother suddenly. His dad was right, it really wasn't as if Chris could censor what he said. Wyatt decided to give Chris an easy one.

"What person do you look up to most in the world?" Wyatt figured Chris would name some sports superstar and then they could move on.

"You," Chris said simply. Surprised, Wyatt's head shot up. He did not expect this. "You are indisputably the most powerful thing on earth, but you are still down to earth and kind. I really look up to you. I am jealous all the time because I am a nobody compared to you. You have as much power in one hand as I contain in my entire body, yet you still treat me as an equal."

"I don't know what to say," Wyatt said. He thought he had burned out his little brother's insecurities a long time ago. Apparently there were still issues they needed to hash out sometime. Wyatt didn't think of Chris as the less important Charmed son, and he certainly did not want Chris to think it either.

He looked at Leo. Leo, who was sitting next to Chris, patted his son's arm. "You can stop with this question buddy."

"It is your turn for a question mother."

With her baby's dark green eyes on her, Piper trashed the question she had ready. After witnessing such a tender scene she realized that it was morally wrong to do this.

"Never mind," she said.

"Aw, come on," Paige encouraged. "You can ask something simple, like the car dent."

"I will get that one out of him later with good old-fashioned mom interrogation techniques." She looked at Chris thoughtfully and finally asked, "Is there anything you have wanted to get off your chest, but haven't had the courage to tell us? Only tell us if that's what you really want."

"Yes, my dreams about the alternate reality have always been a lot more intense than what I let on. I haven't told you because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings." He cast a look specifically toward Wyatt and Leo.

"What do you mean?" Leo couldn't help asking.

"Whenever you and I have our heart-to-hearts about the other future, I omit a lot. For example, I don't tell you how cruel both the other future's Wyatt and Leo are to me. I've lost so much innocence in my dreams. I can't even guess how many times I have killed, or cried. My other self does stupid, dangerous, and reckless things (some I can't begin to describe) in order to cope with the world."

The Halliwells and Mitchells were stunned. Piper held her hand against her heart. Phoebe thought the worst part was Chris felt no real emotion while he was spilling his darkest secrets.

"Recently, after the taurax caught me, the dreams have become more real. I can't sleep at night sometimes because the I can literally feel it in this future."

Wyatt's held his hand frozen in the air stretched forward. As if he could physically snatch away Chris' words. Leo rubbed his hand comfortingly up and down Chris' arm. The gentle motion did not match the repulsed expression.

It was at this badly timed moment that the hive of tauraxes simmered in.

The burly monsters charged. Wyatt sprang up and began to electrocute them one by one. He didn't want to unleash his power full force however for fear he might his one of his family accidentally in the process.

Phoebe and Coop each picked at one for hand to hand combat while Piper and Paige employed their powers. Leo pushed Chris' down under the table.

Despite vanquishing many of them, more and more simmered in to replace their hive brothers.

Chris cowered under the table and watched. He should stay and hide like he was told like a good boy, but something bubbled up in him.

"Dad," Wyatt shouted over the clangs of combat. "I'll clear a path to the stairs. Get Chris out of here."

"Let's get to safety buddy." Something in the back of Chris' mind argued with the compulsion to obey.

Wyatt jerked his head and a force field tunnel appeared. It lead all the way the stairs. Leo hustled his youngest son through the tunnel and up the stairs. Halfway up they watched to see how everyone was doing. The battle began to spill into the foyer by the stairs. Wyatt's attention was focused in front of him and he had his back to the wall for protection. Usually Chris protected Wyatt's back in a fight.

Wyatt didn't notice the Taurax simmer beside him with an athame. Chris perceived the emblem emblazoned on the hilt. It was a power draining athame, Wyatt would be helpless if stabbed.

His conflicted mind fought the constraints of the spell. He remembered the story his dad had told him about the day Chris Perry died more than eighteen years ago. Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe had been under a spell and had snapped out of it when they realized their family needed them. _I knew deep down inside family matters more than this…twisted sense of right and wrong... that's gotta trump everything, even this stupid spell…_ Echoes of his Dad's words floated back to him. With a mental pop, he was free.

He flew down the stairs and slammed into Wyatt before his dad could blink twice. White-hot pain seared into his flesh. The athame found a mark. But at least it wasn't Wyatt, Chris consoled himself. He stumbled and fell to his knees. He wondered dizzily why his legs didn't work as a large, dark fist slammed against his temple.

_**A/N: This was the sentimental, tender family moments chapter. Next chapter will have a heaping helping of Chris angst, both mental and physical. (And both real Chris and alternate reality Chris receive a healthy dose of it.) Also, my thanks goes out to Allenterrill for giving me a plot bunny idea for way later.**_

_**Hehe, and it will come as no surprise to anyone that Chris is very, very, **__**very**__** angry about the Stepford spell when he regains consciousness.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

Wyatt waited until Lefo and Chris made it up the stairs before jerking his head to let down the force field tunnel. His hands were busy blowing up multiple demons at a time.

His mom was the closest family member in proximity to him. She would flex both her hands and the demon in her sight would detonate from existence. Wyatt used a more advanced version of the same power. His left hand would 'mark' a Taursax and the right hand would blow up whatever was marked. It was a strategy he used often in order to kill multiple demons at the same time instead of one by one. It was a gift that required much of his concentration. On more than one occasion he had 'marked' a member of his family when in a hurry. No one was hurt because he couldn't blow up fellow witches; nonetheless it freaked his family out because he could have easily accidentally blown up D.J., Warren, Victor, Henry, Coop, or any other non-witch friend. When he was ten years old, he and his dad spent weeks practicing on pineapples in magic school. Chris always jokingly referred to it as The Great Pineapple Massacre of 2013.

Chris… Wyatt looked up the stairs and saw his dad and little brother watching him over the banister. Chris didn't have the dull, impassive expression Wyatt had grown accustomed to for the past few weeks. Instead he looked…tense, conflicted even. A taursax distracted Wyatt before he could dwell on it. It got vanquished immediately. Too bad there were two more to take its place. Wyatt hated when there was replacement evil.

He backed further toward the foyer and put his back to a wall. Usually he could rely on Chris to watch out for him, but today he would have to use a plaster block instead.

"There are too many, we have to do something," he faintly heard him mom tell Phoebe.

Phoebe ducked a fist and replied with, "I'm open to suggestions."

"You'd think after twenty five years of this we'd be better at having emergency plans," Piper griped as she flicked her hands.

"Well, usually it works just to wing it." Phoebe delivered a roundhouse kick and knocked a taursax backward into the grandfather clock.

Paige had over heard part of their conversation. "You'd think after twenty five years you'd stop replacing that ill-fated clock," she said sardonically.

Wyatt considered energy blasting the entire first floor. That would mean he would first have to orb his uncle coop to safety, then he would have to put up limits to how far the blast could extend so that it did not spread laround town ike a wildfire. Sometimes having so much power meant constantly limiting himself. He decided against it. Even if he did take the time and concentration, more would still simmer in.

Wyatt felt something crash into him. He stumbled sideways to regain his footing.

What occurred next felt like an eternity, although in reality it took about five seconds. When Wyatt whirled around, he was surprised to make eye contact with his little brother. Chris' eyes weren't blank and dull. Instead, excitement sparked out of them; he grinned recklessly at Wyatt's stare. It was a grin Wyatt had almost forgotten since Chris got his powers stripped; the grin that personified the wild joy Chris acquired a fight. An excitement Wyatt didn't share, and it always scared him to no end that Chris got such a thrill out of danger.

Chris stumbled a step forward before sliding to his knees.

Why's he taking a break? Wyatt wondered stupidly as his eyes traveled downward. Air vacuumed into Wyatt's lungs in a painful gasp. A blade mockingly gleamed at Wyatt as it sat in Chris' side, right below the ribs.

The Taursax yanked the blade sideways, effectively splitting Chris' side in two. Chris winced slightly, and then shrugged in a 'what-can-you-do?' manner. He motioned to stand up. The Taursax raised his blade again for a fatal blow. Wyatt lifted his hands to blow up the Taursax. Unfortunately, his powers don't work well when he is emotional.

Instead of blowing up the demon he blew up only its hand. The power-draining athame skittered away. The Taursax lifted its other ham sized fist and slammed it onto Chris' skull. Chris' eyes rolled to the back of his head before falling unconsciously forward. Wyatt tried again. He succeeded this time in destroying his foe.

Wyatt rushed forward and crouched next to Chris. He cursed when his healing powers didn't work. He forgot about that part in the heat of the moment. Instead he pressed his hands into the deep wound to staunch the bleeding. Another pair of hands came into view and pushed his away.

Wyatt looked up and to see his father crouched across from him.

Leo said, "I've got him, you keep helping your mom."

Wyatt nodded grimly before pulling his hands away.

He hated when his little brother got hurt. Although it happened consistently in their dangerous existence, it never grew mundane. Every new wound was as terrifying as the first. If anything it got worse. Maybe every time Chris healed before had been a saving grace and now was the time to slip away. They were just playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette with fate. Every time it happened he could not help but wonder if this was the time he would have to say good bye forever.

Wyatt continued to blow up the enemy; crimson blood dripped from his still bloody hands onto Piper's clean floor.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Chris crouched in the shadows of a shrub. He never let his gaze leave the council of demons sitting not less than five feet in front of him. _

_"¡Nosotros no podemos permitir que Wyatt conquistar nuestro mundo!" One was saying. It pounded its fist down for emphasis. You're preaching to the choir, Chris mentally agreed._

"_Cuenta tus beneficios, tenemos Seamus ahora," another demon admonished. Chris allowed himself a small smile. It took him months of research to find out Seamus' name and where he held his demon court. Once the head demon got here, Chris could finally give the signal to his team to attack. Chris carefully shifted his weight so that his leg wouldn't fall asleep._

_Three more demons shimmered in and Chris tensed his already tense body. He mentally went over battle strategies. They were in a large deserted outdoor hippodrome somewhere in Spain. (Demons didn't bother meeting solely in the underground anymore. With Wyatt, it didn't matter.) Sixty nine demons stood near the center (Seventy two with the new arrivals). Chris and nine of his team members hid in strategic location ringing the center. He had expected about fifty (five for each of them). The odds were turning into eight on one plus some bonus ones. He still wasn't too worried; he trained his team himself. Plus, he had the element of surprise on his side._

_Another demon shimmered in. Chris sucked his breath silently in between his teeth. It was Seamus._

_Chris felt Charlie's waiting gaze on him, but Chris ignored it in order to focus on the happenings in front of him. Demons quieted. They turned toward the newcomer and listened as their leader spoke to them in rapid Spanish. Three translators stood beside Seamus fin order to help the English, Italian, and Latin demons understand. Little did the English translator know, she was helping Chris gain valuable information too…_

_After about ten minutes Chris decided he had heard enough. He caught the eye of his second in command, Charlie, and signaled with his hands. Charlie put his fingers to his lips and perfectly imitated a Spanish kestrel. After ten seconds he repeated the call. After another ten seconds he made the imitation a third and final time. The moment the signal left Charlie's lips, Chris was up and out in the open._

_Chris loved battles. They were the moments he craved to get his pent up aggressions out. Before the demons could blink he hurled two razor sharp throwing stars at two demons' throats. He telekinetically made sure they hit their targets before telekinetically bringing them back like two deadly boomerangs._

_The fifty or so remaining demons were on the defensive. Chris was on an adrenaline filled high. He kicked and jabbed and orbed and TKed in a rush. He realized dimly he was hurt somewhere, but didn't think twice about it. Cowardly demons shimmered out. That left about six. Chris and his teammates made quick work of them._

_Chris checked his watch. Unbelievably, only twenty minutes had passed._

_He surveyed the scene and counted the piles of ash left behind where a demon was killed._

_Demon body-count: fifty one_

_Seamus was included among the dead. Twenty three got away. _

_His team body-count: six_

_Four of them he had marked off as casualties before the battle even started. Either because they weren't powerful enough, or had naturally slow reflexes. The fifth one, Chris noted, was his second-in-command. He felt no remorse. Charlie was an extreme loyalist to Wyatt's faction. Because of that fact, Chris had promoted him to throw off any suspicion of where Chris' loyalty lay. That, and Charlie had been quite obtuse while still living. Chris gaze shifted to the sixth victim. That didn't matter anymore. The only member he trusted with his secret was now dead too._

_Chris walked over to Kali, knelt, and pressed two fingers under her jaw to check for a pulse; yep, definitely dead. He bowed his head._

_Sergio, a demon for Wyatt's cause, came up behind him. "So the whitelighter is dead," he stated._

_Chris stood. "She died for the cause. And you always doubted her."_

_Sergio shrugged. "I'm still not sure she wasn't part of The Resistance. Lord Wyatt was too lenient on whitelighter who claimed to have switched to his side. Once an angel for the good side…" he let the words trail off._

_Chris ignored the implication, and checked himself, Sergio, Sarah, and Bekim for injuries. Nothing too bad, just the usual cuts, sprains, and bruises._

_"Are they all dead?"_

_"Yes, we've already checked the surrounding area."_

_"Alright then, mission accomplished. Everybody out."_

_Sergio touched Kali and the corpse of a witch on their team before he simmered himself and them away. They could leave the bodies. Nobody cared about exposure anymore. Bekim grabbed Sarah, a witch, and simmered away too._

_Chris stood and contemplated the horizon in silence. He wasn't looking forward to the paperwork he would have to fill out at Magic School._

_He didn't notice vigilante demon shimmer in behind him. Grasped in the demon's hand was an acid grenade. It pulled the catch and threw it at Chris._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris started. He clutched at his eyes.

"AAaaaa!" He groaned. "It's burning me! IT'S BURNING ME!"

He couldn't make sense of the flurry around him. All he could focus on was the incredible pain. It was in his eyes, on his skin! Burning, eating away at his being. Burning! Burning! Burning!

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_"AAaaaaa," Chris screamed in agony. He bent over. Nothing mattered but the pain. The burning, burning, burning!_

_The demon took advantage of his weakness and stabbed Chris in the heart. When this new pain struck his cardio system, Chris became somewhat more lucid. He telekinetically gathered all of the acid off his skin and flung it at the demon as one motion. The demon flamed and was gone._

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

The pain subsided some. Chris became more and more aware of his surroundings. He was laid out in the backseat of his mom's SUV while she drove like a convict escaping to freedom. Wyatt stared at him from the passenger's seat. His dad hovered over him and had his hands in Chris' side.

"Stop pinching me dad," Chris griped as he shoved against his dad's arms. "That hurts."

"I'm keeping you alive."

Wyatt's worried face looked over at him. "What hurts so bad that you were screaming bloody murder about it?!"

Chris ignored his throbbing, bloody side to glare at his family. His absolute outrage far outweighed any physical aches he may have.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL OF YOU!" He roared. His volume surprised him. It certainly surprised his family. Piper almost jerked the wheel off of the road.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! How about every single one of you contributed in absolutely RUINING my life! That's what's WRONG!" He attempted to swing himself into a sitting position, but Leo would have none of that.

"We'll discuss this after you're life is saved."

"Oh, we'll do more than discuss it," Chris threatened.

Piper said sharply from the front seat. "Don't speak to your family in such a manner."

Chris ground his teeth.

Wyatt asked, "What do you mean when you say 'we'll do more than discuss it'?"

"Oh! You will just have to see!" Chris actually had no idea what he would do. He only knew for a fact he would do something drastic. He didn't have long to plan something though, because darkness gathered and he fell unconscious from blood loss.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

_Chris writhed on the ground. He was dying, and he knew it. _

_The only problem was what to do. He knew in his gut that he wouldn't survive a hospital visit. It would take too long. The only thing to do would be to orb to a whiteligher. That presented a problem. Kali was dead, so there were no more whitelighters in Wyatt's regime. The rest were safely hidden away at Haven. Which left either orbing to Wyatt himself, or calling for Leo. He had to decide quickly. And he didn't like either option…_

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

_**Uh-Oh, what should alternate reality Chris do? Cast your vote now: Leo or Wyatt. Whichever gets the most votes gets written about next.**_

_**A/N: So sorry about the super slow update my lambs. I went to London for awhile and got inspired to work on some personal stories. I've also had exams and research papers piled up like you wouldn't believe! Fear not, I've only got two exams and a paper coming up until I'm done; so then I can totally focus my individual attention on **__**Chris Chronicles**__**. **_

_**Also, a big thank you to all the people (Aranna Undomiel. Meilinglovesshaoran, and an anonymous person) that pointed out my big, huge Henry error last chapter. That was pretty bad; I felt pretty dim-witted once I realized what you all were talking about. cdfe88- I love MitM so I know exactly what you're talking about. You gave me an idea that will show up much later in the story. Thanks! criminally charmed- just for you (and for me too) there will be a heaping helping of Wyatt angst coming soon. NaruXHinata-Rules- Trust me, Chris definitely is not going to forgive and forget anytime soon. ;)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

Wyatt paced back and forth in the hospital waiting room. Apparently pacing was a trait he inherited from his Aunt Phoebe, because he kept passing her on her own circular trek. His mom and dad sat in chairs; hands clasped tight together. The rest of the Halliwell/Mitchell clan was spread helter-skelter around the room.

"Will you two please stop walking around? The doctors said he would be fine," Aunt Paige chided. "There's no need to worry." The way Paige kept twisting her wedding ring and shifting her position offset her words.

Wyatt obediently halted. He sank down into the vacant chair beside Paige.

"I hate hospitals. Before today, I never really realized it. Because when you can heal at your convenience, you don't realize the torture it is to wait for someone else to do the healing job."

"So the guy that wants to be a doctor hates hospitals. You seriously need to reprioritize your future career."

"I hate the waiting then," he clarified.

"That's a pretty universal feeling, little dude." Even sitting down, Wyatt still towered over his petite aunt. He raised his eyebrows down at her to which she just shrugged. "You'll always be my 'little dude'." Her eyes flicked toward the corridor they had whisked Chris down. "One of two."

Silence ensued for the next fifteen minutes. Every person lost in his or her own mind. To say the thoughts weren't pleasant was like saying California's 2016 earthquake wasn't a gentle tremor.

I'm the most powerful being in the entire world, and I feel so powerless, Wyatt thought. He thought forcefully, I can NOT just sit around and do nothing.

"I'll be back," he announced. "I'm going to see him," he stated firmly (daring someone to argue) when Leo looked at him questioningly.

Wyatt calmly (belaying his insides) walked past the nurses station into the men's restroom. The room was empty, but to play it safe he stepped inside a stall. Closing his eyes, he slowly faded until he was invisible to the human eye. Then he promptly walked through the wall. This led him to a storage closet. The next wall led to a patient's room. This was progress. Walking through a few more sets of walls and levitating up through a ceiling led him to the intensive care unit. Wyatt continued to phase through walls undetected until he found the room he was looking for.

There had been no need to use the link he and his sibling shared to find directions. He had been fixated on that connection for hours now.

His baby brother lay immobile in a large hospital bed. His face was ghastly pale; Wyatt could see light blue veins crawling across Chris eyelids. A doctor made notations on a chart while a stalwart nurse fiddled with a bags of bodily fluids hanging next the bed. From the bag ran a tube connecting it to Chris.

Needing the physical connection, Wyatt reached down to pick up the hand that wasn't taped up with tubes. He realized his mistake when the nurse half-gasped. Wyatt quickly placed the hand back on the blanket.

The doctor glanced up from the chart, "What is it Mariah?"

"It's nothing; he moved his hand is all."

"Hmm… his stats are looking good. I expect to see some real improvement in the next few days. He'll probably be out of ICU by tomorrow afternoon. We'll dispatch him to a main room for about a week, probably, so that he can rest from the transfusion."

The nurse glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. "It's after visiting hours. I'll go break the news to his family that they'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see him." Wyatt couldn't help but smile. That didn't stop him.

The two hospital patrons quietly exited after checking the machines one last time and dimming the lights. Wyatt re-picked up Chris' hand.

"I'm so sorry bro," he murmured softly. "No matter what, I'll find a way to make everything up to you."

Wyatt's stomach clenched painfully. Chris took a bullet for him- Metaphorically speaking of course. Literally speaking- Chris took a power sucking knife for him!

How many times had Chris saved his life? Wyatt couldn't be sure because Chris always watched out for Wyatt's back in a fight. Not only had Chris stepped in front of a knife to save Wyatt's life this day, but an older Chris had done the same thing for a toddler Wyatt years ago. Wyatt would never be able to repay those debts.

Wyatt told Chris, "The entire world thinks that it's you who needs me… because of how powerful I am… but you and I both know the truth… I know I certainly do! It's me that needs you. Always has been." Wyatt swallowed. "You have no idea how important you are to me. You're my number one charge.

"I've been watching out for you my whole life... It's my job. Never feel unimportant… because you're the most important person to the most powerful person. That's no small place." He chuckled softly. "I bet you're glad to be unconscious. You can't stand it when your brother goes all sentimental on you."

Wyatt sat carefully on the edge of the bed. "I'll never let anything hurt you again," he swore. "I will always protect you."

Chris' face was twisted oddly, and Wyatt wondered what he was dreaming about.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Chris rubbed at his raw eyes before squinting. He could make out shadowy details of the landscape, but it was a gray and grimy picture to his acid-burned vision. He put a hand on the hilt sticking out of his heart as he swayed. Now his vision started to spin in addition to the dull coloration. Wyatt or Leo? Wyatt or Leo? Did he even want to live?_

_The last thought was tempting. His life was not what he would pick for himself. But he had to survive, had to keep fighting; If not for his own future's sake, than for the future of his cousin and the Wiccan children in hiding. Not to mention the world!_

_He decided on Wyatt. He did not want a repeat of the last time he and his father were together. Besides, wasn't it because of Wyatt's cause that he got injured?_

_Plus, although they both repressed it as much as possible, they did share an empathic link. Wyatt would know he was hurt and interrogate Chris on where he got healed. After all, Chris maintained he knew as little about Haven as Wyatt did._

_Proud of his reasoning under extreme duress, Chris orbed. He appeared in Wyatt's living quarters. Wendi and Lacee, Wyatt's most recent (ahem) night visitors, looked up when he entered. They looked repulsed at his less than presentable state._

_"He's not here," Wendi said before Chris could ask. Chris closed his eyes and followed his and Wyatt's empathic link._

_"I found him." Chris didn't recognize his own voice because it sounded so tinny. He located his brother in one of the meeting chambers on the second floor of magic school._

_"Come back when you're cleaned up so I can take care of you," Lacee, the more slutty of the two, said seductively. She leaned forward to show off her barely covered bosom._

_Chris didn't try to veil his disgust. "I don't do sloppy seconds, especially from women of such questionable morals."_

_He orbed away before Lacee could register the insult._

_When he orbed into the chamber, Wyatt's back was facing him. The assortment of ruthless demons and witches consisting of Wyatt's council did not surrender any expression at his appearance. Chris always wondered if they were even capable of an expression other than 'blank'. That was unfair. They could pass off 'frightened' or 'reverent' depending on Lord Wyatt's mood._

_Apparently Wyatt heard the jingle of Chris arrival. "What are you doing here?" he demanded without turning around._

_Chris was in too much pain to hold back on the sarcasm. "Oh you know me! There's nothing I like better than to crash my precocious brother's world dominatrix burlesque." Some members of the council looked awed at his belligerence. Chris mentally noted that he could add a fourth face to their unimpressive repertoire. _

_Wyatt glanced over his shoulder at Chris, and then the great Wyatt Halliwell actually did a double take. Normally Wyatt exhumed intimidation, but instead he looked shocked at the sight of his only sibling. And did Chris detect an undercurrent of real fear? No, he decided. Wyatt wasn't afraid of anything._

_Immediately Wyatt ordered in his naturally commanding voice. "Leave. We'll finish this later." Without delay the council disappeared from the chamber._

_Wyatt strode to Chris as he magically conjured a chair. He carefully pushed Chris down into it. Wyatt grasped the hilt sticking from Chris' chest and pulled it out. Without a word he placed a calloused hand where the hilt had been; a golden glow emitted from his palm._

_"'Precocious', 'dominatrix burlesque', you're vocabulary is remarkable for a high school drop out." Chris detected the shadow of amusement on Wyatt's features._

_"Well you are always preaching about representing the family prestige. I thought I would just play my part."_

_"Indeed."_

_Wyatt completed healing the chest, heart, and cavities. He moved his hand slowly up to Chris' face, healing acid scars along the way. Chris let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in as the pain diminished. He closed his eyes and relaxed a little more as the healing light did its magic._

_This is what gave him hope. Through everything, the fact that Wyatt could heal meant that there was hope for the future. For healing's trigger is love, so Wyatt's healing gift was a sign that he still had capacity for love._

_As he finished, Wyatt noted, "You certainly did a number on yourself."_

_"All in the line of duty," Chris commented dully._

_Finished, Wyatt pulled away._

_"Stats."_

_"Fifty-one down including Seamus."_

_"Hmm... good work."_

_Chris smirked at Wyatt's words. This was high praise from the dictator of the world, the man who never had anything good to say about anybody because it was what was expected in the first place. It was so easy to disappoint him, not so much to impress him. Wyatt narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "What?"_

_"Stop praising me so much Wy. It's just getting embarrassing."_

_Wyatt grunted. He walked over to the conference table and sat down. With a wave of his little finger a folio of maps and paperwork appeared before him. Chris followed and flopped down in a chair, leaving a chair between them._

_"What's new in the wonderful world of Wyatt," Chris asked casually. He hoped to draw out how far along the investigation of Haven's location was."_

_Wyatt grunted again before replying. "I've destroyed most of my enemies." He smiled a smile that scared Chris. "With Seamus dead it only leaves Oorjita, Li, Ugra, Glenda, Jerome, and Leo." Chris repressed a shudder._

_"So you've given up on turning them to your side, huh?"_

_"They are far too old and set in their ways to appreciate my new world order."_

_Change that to it's everyone in the world who doesn't appreciate your 'world order', Chris thought. Instead he said, "So you're down to six opposers huh."_

_Wyatt looked up, and when he saw nothing but innocence on Chris' face, nodded agreement. "It's gone from over three thousand to six in the past four years." He smiled that smile again._

_Over three thousand to twelve, Chris mentally corrected. Thanks to Chris and the rest of The Resistance, more elders than just Glenda, Jerome, and Leo survived the devastation 'Up There'._

_Not wanting Wyatt to sense his culpability (for Wyatt had murdered an innocent witch in order to gain the power of empathy), he changed the subject. Chris wanted desperately to go to a demonic supplier for the potion that would hide his secrets, but nothing would raise Wyatt's suspicions faster than if he suddenly couldn't get a read on Chris._

_"You really need to change your wardrobe. You're too predictable in the dark colors. I hear that bright blue is the new black."_

_Wyatt almost smiled. "No one else dares criticize my clothing choice."_

_"No one else has my fantastic fashion sense," Chris joked, indicating his clothing, which was subsequently stained with blood, dirt, demon guts, and who knows what else._

_The joke didn't get the indulgent smirk Chris was going for. Instead, Wyatt frowned disapprovingly. "Yes, I will have to kill Selma for not letting me know when you planned to attack. Then I could have felt more carefully for if you got injured."_

_"I don't need watched."_

_"I disagree." And that was that._

_Chris slouched in his chair._

_Not looking up from the map, Wyatt said, "Speaking of family prestige, I wish you would let me give you more powers."_

_Chris shook his head. "Uh-huh, no way is a witch going to die so that I can float."_

_"More than float Chris. Pyrokinesis, any form of projection, configuration, duplication, freezing, Glamouring, phasing, indestructablilty, the list goes on and on… all can be yours if you just ask."_

_"I certainly don't want demonic powers. They'll skew my priorities."_

_"You're priorities are already sadly misplaced."_

_"That's your opinion."_

_Wyatt picked up a red pen and carefully made a red X over a town in England. "One day I may force indestructibility on you. You already seem to have a death wish."_

_Chris wondered how many lives just were doomed to perish thanks to that ominous X._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris stirred. "Wyatt?"

With a gigantic effort, he lifted his weighted lids. He was alone in a hospital room. No, with their shared link, he felt Wyatt nearby.

"Are you playing Susan Storm?" Wyatt had so many freaking powers that it seemed only fair that he distinguish them all. He couldn't help it if some of them matched up with female comic book heroes.

Wyatt reversed his invisibility. "That's Griffin to you."

"Did you pull a Kitty Pryde or an Alex Mack to get in here?"

"For your information it was a Norman Radd."

Chris' mind was foggy. He knew he was mad at Wyatt, but he couldn't pinpoint a reason.

So tired. He closed his eyes again.

"Please don't kill the innocents," he begged softly as he drifted out of awareness.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

**_A/N: I hope it wasn't too cheesy; especially the first section. _**

**_I have to say, I was stunned how overwhelmingly the vote went in Wyatt's favor. There was no need for a careful count of the votes considering everybody voted for Wyatt. I guess I don't know what people want to see as well as I thought, because two days ago I would have sworn everybody would want to see a little father/son clash. It was interesting to see the reasoning behind people's choices though._**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

_**Important pre-chapter Author's Note: It has come to my attention that many people are disappointed in real-world Chris' childish behavior. Not to worry: I decided to make it part of the story! Yay! You will probably notice that he acts sporadically juvenile in this chapter, but he will be acting like a grown up again next chapter (You'll get explanations as you read the story.)**_

_**Anyway, on to the chapter.**_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Chris woke up fully lucid, he did not speak to his family at all. He requested that the hospital staff not let any member of his family enter his room. Although dubious, the staff honored his request. Of course when you're a Halliwell, getting into a barred room is a cinch. All you have to do is orb on in. When this happened Chris would either pretend to be asleep, or turn up the volume on the television.

His righteous indignation kept him from breaking under his cousins' baleful looks, his aunts' apologizing, his parents' pleading, and his brother's beseeches. The only time he would acknowledge one directly was with a shrug, or a shake of the head. Secretly he was pleased at his own stubbornness. After all, it served them right. His senior year of high school had been ruined, and it certainly was by no real fault of his own.

Had Chris acted on his instincts he would have signed himself out of the hospital, rented a car, and just kept driving until he hit the east coast! But, as stated earlier, such actions were impossible in his family; especially considering he still had another week and a half until graduation, when he would finally get his powers back. So instead Chris devised a plan. While the Mitchells and Halliwells attempted to simper their way back into his good graces, he silently planned out step by step his every plan of action. After all, he hadn't spent all his life living in the other Chris' shoes without learning a thing or two about surgical strikes. Not to mention how to hide his emotions, plan ahead, and then wait until the opportune moment.

Because one thing was for sure, he was not going to be part of the family anymore.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"I want to be alone," Chris said tersely for what seemed like the twentieth time in the last hour alone.

"Are you sure," Piper asked from the doorway of his bedroom. "I baked muffins." She held the basket out like a peace offering.

"No." Chris bit his tongue to keep the thank you from slipping out after the no. He was brought up to have manners, but he really did not feel like being polite.

"Okay Peanut, just come downstairs if you change you mind." She waited but Chris didn't say anything.

Piper slowly closed the door. Her hand lingered on the handle before she finally headed toward the stairwell resigned.

As soon as he heard the click of the door Chris went back to what he had been doing before being interrupted for the umpteenth time. He un-minimized the window of his audio coordinating program. Out of his desk drawer he pulled out the pile of CD-RWs he had hastily shoved in there when Piper had arrived. With every CD-RW came a typed transcript (word-for-word) of what was on that disc. Chris had spent years building up and perfecting his little library.

Before Piper's muffin interruption, Chris had almost been done with his first mixed CD. He bit the corner of his bottom lip in utter concentration. It had to be just perfect. After he was satisfied, he hooked his i-pod up to his desktop to download his new file onto it. As the filed burned, he opened up an internet window and went to the UCLA records page. Thanks to Chris' tech savvy friend Brett, it was a cinch to hack into the university's student information system and look up a certain address. Chris printed all this information up before closing down the internet.

Now here came project number two. He pulled the transcripts to him. There were transcripts of Wyatt's school plays, Wyatt's private telephone conversations, Wyatt giving speeches, Wyatt just talking to himself around the house. Any and everything Chris could record of Wyatt talking.

The hard part was taking all of these audio clips, and splicing them together to make a spell. It required creativity, and a lot of stretching. Determined, Chris got to work.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

An hour later Chris sat back with the final copy on his i-pod. He stuffed all of the transcripts and CD-RWs into his backpack. He put that on then slung a pre-packed duffel bag over his shoulder.

Being careful not to be noticed, Chris prowled down the stairs and out the front door. When he finally stood outside the door, he pressed the play button. The static-filled voice of Excalibur's wielder (Wyatt) came out. There were gaps in the recording where Chris had spliced words together

_Young… Whitelighter…Chris Halliwell… is bitter_

_But he doesn't need… a baby-sitter_

_Let no… witch, whiteligher, magical creature… be able to find… or… sense him_

_Until Chris…says… "Bingo Wings… Extra Fancy"_

Chris was particularly proud of this tape. It had not been easy. And he was glad he used the last line as a clarifier. He knew all to well how binding a spell's time limit could be to work against someone. His i-pod, along with secret address paper, he zipped securely up in the front pocket of his backpack by stretching his arm behind him.

Still proud, Chris walked half a block until he got the motorcycle his friend Jacob lent him. He slung a leg over the bike, feeling rebellious enough to not wear a helmet, then roared off. He barely felt guilty over worrying his family. Especially Leo and Wyatt after all the cruel things they had done to him! A small, ever fading voice in the back of his head reminded him that his Dad and Wyatt were nothing but loving and protective, and that he was confusing them with the alternate reality. He chose to ignore it. He had a secret mission to do.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"The z-score expresses the divergence of the experimental result x from the most probable result μ as a number of standard deviations σ. We can find this by…" Wyatt's professor droned.

Wyatt stared at the clock on the back wall. Would this torture never end?

He heard light snores beside him, and he rolled his eyes. He and his best friend Manny had signed up for a May mester class together; gung ho that they would motivate each other better. So far Wyatt was doing all the motivating. He dug his elbow into Manny's side. The snored ceased.

"Do you mind?!" Manny hissed at Wyatt. "I _just_ got comfortable."

"How on earth did you make it into _Stanford_?"

"Years of copying off of you, Buddy," Manny replied before re-burying his face in the crook of his arm. Wyatt knew the real truth; Manny was naturally brilliant. Wyatt would study for hours while Manny could innately figure it out on the test. Manny's real name was Derek Junior, but had picked up his nickname when a toddler Chris called the half-Manticore "Manny".

Wyatt tried to focus in on the professor's words. He dutifully jotted down the formula for z. Only twenty seven minutes and twelve seconds to go.

"_Wyatt_?" Piper's voice came into his head. Wyatt immediately woke up from the trance that statistics was putting him in. "_It's not an emergency or anything, so don't leave class. But come home when you have a chance." _Wyatt relaxed. He almost wished it was a real emergency so that he would have an excuse to leave class early.

Almost.

Thirty one minutes later, Manny and Wyatt walked out of the lecture hall.

"I can't believe he held us an extra two minutes," Manny complained.

Wyatt looked at him disbelievingly. "Speak for yourself, you got an extra two minutes of sleep."

"It's the principle of the thing."

"Do you want to come to my house for dinner tonight?"

Manny rubbed his stomach. "You don't even have to ask. I'm always up for your mom's home cooking. My dad's idea of gourmet cooking is food that comes in a box." Both boys ducked out of sight behind a shrub. Wyatt orbed while Manny shimmered. They reappeared in the Halliwell manor's kitchen.

Piper looked up from where she was stirring the contents of a pot.

"There you are." Wyatt kissed Piper on the cheek in greeting.

She smiled at the half-Manticore. "Hello Manny. You came at the right time to sample my new pasta dish before I put it on the restaurant's menu."

Manny grinned and said, "Always happy to be a test dummy for you Mrs. H!"

Piper turned toward her oldest son. "Can you sense where your brother is please? He snuck out of the house again." She nodded to a piece of paper on the counter. "That was on his desk." The note read 'I'm out of here. Don't bother looking for me. –Chris'

Wyatt closed his eyes and spread his senses. When Chris wasn't in the city he widened his search to a lager radius. Finally he widened his search to the world while Piper and Manny chatted about school.

"I'll be right back," Wyatt said abruptly, opening his eyes. Before anyone could ask where he was going he orbed out of the room.

So Wyatt reappeared, looking worried. "I can't sense him in the underworld either.

Manny looked impressed. "How'd he pull that off without magic?"

Piper and Wyatt exchanged grim looks.

"He can't," Wyatt finally answered.

"Oh."

Nobody voiced what they were all thinking: A realistic explanation would be that Chris could be dead.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Wyatt visually combed the campus of his former high school for what felt like the millionth time. He had been the first person there, and had stood guard for more than an hour. Not one person was going to get past him. Many upperclassmen recognized last year's star quarterback, but one look at his uninviting expression deterred them from starting a conversation.

Finally, he spotted his quarry. Chris walked up to the school with a group of seniors. He was laughing. Wyatt crossed the distance between them.

"Where've you been Chris?" Wyatt glared.

The people with Chris looked uncomfortable. Wyatt's anger was obvious to even the most obtuse.

"You guys go on," Chris said to them, "I'll catch up."

He smirked at Wyatt, but his eyes were hard. "Well if it isn't my big brother. Checking up on me."

"You scared us to death." Wyatt gritted his teeth.

"I'm not any of your concern anymore."

"The hell you aren't!" Wyatt reached out, grabbed the front of Chris' shirt, and shook him. "You will always be my responsibility. I love you, so yeah, I think it's natural to be concerned for your safety." He shook Chris again. "Don't you ever, ever do this to Mom and Dad again!"

Wyatt had hoped that his speech would reach Chris, but instead he became distant. "You're full of pretty speeches, aren't you Lord Wyatt?"

"What?"

"What?" Chris focused in on the real world. He disentangled his clothing from Wyatt's white-knuckled grasp.

Wyatt demanded. "What is WRONG with you? You haven't been acting like yourself at all. You seem so, so," he searched for the right word. "Childish!" That was the right one. "Which was weird because you're one of the most _mature _people I've ever known."

Chris backed away from his brother. "Wouldn't you be angry if you were in my shoes?" He turned his back on Wyatt and walked toward the school.

"We're not done," Wyatt shouted after him.

"I say we are," Chris replied without turning around.

"How did you manage so that we couldn't find you?"

At this, Chris turned his head as he walked, "You gotta admit, that was pretty cool!"

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

Chris straightened out the National Honor Society stole covering his black graduation robes before smiling at the camera. He then got in line behind John Hadley while he waited for his name to be called. He had made it a point the whole evening not to look up in the audience where his entire family sat. For the past week and a half, he had been sleeping on his friend's lumpy couch.

"_Only five people to go until I get my powers back," _he thought gleefully.

"Gavin Garret," the superintendent called out. "_Make that four people to go."_

Chris got so caught up in his post diploma daydream that he only caught the last part of his name.

"…erry Halliwell," the superintendent finished. Chris walked halfway across the stage, took his diploma, shook the principle's hand, and smiled at the flashing camera. Chris could almost feel his magic flow back into him. Elatedly, he TKed the high school banner so that it was straight. (That had bothered him for the entire ceremony!)

Then, something else happened. His fuddled mind cleared. It was as if a cloud had been covering his rational thoughts. He hadn't even realized it.

Questions berated his mind when he walked back toward his chair. Why had he worried his family to such an extreme? And on purpose, too? He had been on the agonized side of a missing family member enough that he vowed long ago never to worry his family in such a way. Why on earth did go back on that vow? For that matter, why had he deemed a lot of stupid actions he had taken necessary?

Also, he had every reason to be mad at his family, but he could see now that many things had been accidents. Furthermore, why was he taking his anger out on Wyatt?! Sure, he was still mad at his parents and aunts, but what had Wyatt ever done to him. Wyatt hadn't cast any spells on him. Wyatt even helped him sneak in and out of the house without tattling. Chris realized he had absolutely no reason to be mad at his older brother.

Without realizing it, he looked up to where Wyatt sat. He always instinctively turned to his protective older brother when he was confused. Wyatt tentatively smiled at Chris. Chris smiled back. He must have looked as confused as he felt, because Wyatt frowned and mouthed, "What's wrong?" Chris honestly didn't know!

That was when Chris began to feel oddly. His entire body began to feel off, a beat behind maybe, if he had to describe it. When he reached his chair he felt relieved to sit down. It did not help the sudden pain though. Chris' vision began to cloud over.

It wasn't until John looked over at him strangely that Chris realized how loudly he was panting.

And then he passed out in the middle of his high school graduation in front of everybody.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_**A/N #2: Yes, I am evil for leaving you at a cliff hanger, but I will update soon. The only reason I hadn't posted this sooner was because I had final exams, a weeklong leadership camp, and a Colorado vacation all right after another.**_

_**Can anyone guess yet what happened to Chris? Also, I will be really, **__**really**_ _**impressed if anyone guesses what Chris' secret errand was.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

Chris was in agony.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

With superhuman effort, he straightened his spine. His entire field if vision was covered by a veil of black static; Like an old television set with bad quality.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

Wondering how many people witnessed his humiliating fall, he forced his vision to focus on the people surrounding him. John (the grad sitting beside him) was turned toward him with a perplexed expression.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

Chris made himself laugh. "That was embarrassing," he said quietly. "How many people get so overwhelmed at their graduation that they can't even remain seated? Like .5 of the population?"

John's face did not move a single muscle away from sincerely perplexed. It was frozen. In fact, the entire room was.

"_Boy am I glad Mom went against my dumb wishes and came anyway_," he thought.

"Chris," a voice said. Chris turned his head and saw Paige and Leo standing over him. Leo had his hand resting on Chris' shoulder. The note worthy part was that Chris could not feel the touch. _Substitute 'alarming' for 'note worthy'._

"I didn't even hear you guys come up." Chris did not notice that his words were slurring together. He sounded perfectly articulate to himself.

"What happened?" A new voice questioned.

"I don't know Wy," Chris said. He pitched forward, and he would have fallen if not for his father's steadying grasp. "But I feel kind of funny." _Only substitute 'pained' for 'funny'._ He did not want to worry his family too much.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

"No kidding."

"We're going to take you home so that we can figure this out," a disembodied voice said. "Paige will glamour into you and take your place here so that we don't cause a scene."

Chris nodded. The motion caused red flashes to dance in his vision.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

"Hey Wy… I'm sorry I've been such a jerk toward you."

He didn't hear an answer because the world swayed.

_Force. It. Down. Stay. Conscious._

FAIL.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Chris orbed into the kitchen and looked around. His grandpa seemed to be absent from the house. Crossing the tile floor in three strides, he pulled out a mega bottle of Tums and chewed up seven of the antacids. He was positive that he would have an ulcer by the time he turned twenty five. If he even lived that long…_

_Chris placed his trembling hands on the metal lip of the sink and hung his head. He felt so stressed and scared. He felt it all the time. Every single day it was like sewer rats gnawed on his poor stomach. He needed to relax. He needed to go blow off to steam. He needed to get his mind off the constant fight. He needed a reason._

_A shrill ring sounded off. Chris ignored it and let the answering machine pick up. The person on the other end hung up. The ring sounded off again. Pulling his hands off the edge of the sink, Chris snatched the cordless phone from its base._

_"Hello?"_

_"Chris?" A small voice asked._

_"Prue?" It sounded like his sole cousin._

_"I know you might be busy, and I totally understand if you are, but could you baby-sit me tonight while daddy's at a meeting?" She said in a rush. "If you can't do it, he's going to ask Mrs. Malone to do it, and she's no fun."_

_This is exactly what Chris' needed to get his mind off of his problems._

_"Of course, anything for my favorite cousin. What time should I be there?"_

_"I'm your __only__ cousin silly! And come at 8:30."_

_"See you then."_

_Chris hung up and looked at the clock. He had forty five minutes to kill. Punching the punching bag hanging in his room wasted half an hour before he changed into clothes that were not sweaty. He felt less tense after his workout. 8:30 on the dot showed Chris knocking on the Terry's front door. Jack Terry, Phoebe's widower, opened the door._

_"Thanks for coming at such late notice Chris."_

_"Don't worry about it. I haven't seen Prue in a long time."_

_Jack ushered Chris in as he left. "I'd love to stay and talk, but I need to get going. Prue's in the dining room."_

_Chris located his one and only cousin coloring. She bit her bottom lip as she carefully concentrated. Chris sat in the chair next to the seven year old._

_"What are you drawing?"_

_Prue tilted the paper so that Chris could see better. "I'm drawing our family."_

_In the middle of the paper were four stick figures. Three were men and one was a little girl with brown hair. Prue pointed. "That's you, that's daddy, that's grandpa, and that's me." Her finger traveled farther up. Two figures stood in a pile of scribbled out clouds. "And this is mommy and Paula in heaven." Prue's little sister Paula died in the cradle on the same dark day that Piper and Phoebe died._

_Finally, Prue's tiny finger traveled to the very bottom of the page. A black stick figure stood amidst orange fire. "And that's Cousin Wyatt in the underworld."_

_"That's a nice picture Prue. Now do you want to draw another picture or do you want to play a board game?"_

_"I want to talk. Stay here." Prue disappeared and then reappeared carrying a tray with two soda's and Oreo cookies. Taking a seat across the table, Prue politely offered a soda to Chris. Chuckling to himself at her newfound seriousness, Chris accepted._

_"How are you Mr. Halliwell, how is life treating you?" she asked formally._

_"I'm fine. Life is good." What a blatant lie that was! "And you Ms. Terry?"_

_Prue abruptly stopped playing. "Tell me about my mommy," she commanded._

_"I've told you about your mommy."_

_"Tell me again."_

_"She was really pretty. You look just like her." It was true; everyday Prue looked more and more like her lovely mother. "She could write really touching articles, and everybody liked her."_

_Prue pouted. "You're so lucky. At least you remember your mom because you were fourteen when she died. I was only three when my mom died, so all I have is stories that people tell me."_

_Chris wouldn't call that lucky, but he supposed she was right: at least he did get a chance to know Piper before she slipped away forever._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chris was thirsty. He opened his eyes into slits to see that he lay in his bedroom. He checked the date on his alarm clock and noted that graduation was four days ago.

He felt exhausted. Obviously Chris had slept for quite awhile, but he could not remember ever being at this level of fatigue. Not even the time he and Wyatt went through magic school's prestigious 48 hour underworld survival course. (Now that was a weekend full of brotherly bonding!)

A straw touched his lips and Chris gratefully sipped cold water.

"What happened to me," he rasped.

A cool wash cloth touched his forehead.

"Don't worry about it Peanut."

Chris closed his eyes. Quiet engulfed the room.

The reverie was broken by Piper quietly commanding. "Peanut, undo the spell you cast."

It took a moment for Chris to recall the spell he cast on himself with the i-pod to prevent anyone from finding, summoning, or casting a spell on him. Instead of answering right away, he asked, "What's happening to me? Tell me mom, please?"

A sigh could be heard. "Do you remember the Taursax that put the black potion into your system?" he nodded, of course. "Well, we found out what it did." Chris picked up an undercurrent of very real fear. He was curious what lengths his family went to in order to gather the information. Appreciation bubbled inside him.

"It was called Vox Adficio. An upper level demon unearthed the recipe from Camelot's dark catacombs. He hired the hive of Taursaxes to wait for you wherever you might turn up... so that they could make you ingest the evil elixir."

When Piper showed no signs of continuing, Chris prompted, "What does Vox Adficio do?" There wasn't any real need for Piper to continue. He already knew thanks to his 'other life'. He just wanted to know how much they knew about it.

Reluctantly his mom replied. "It has to infect a vessel. Vox Adificio drains the magic of its carrier. Any magic really. That's why you can't be healed by whitelighter magic of this, because that gets drained too. Once the magic is gone, it kills the host. If we hadn't gotten rid of your powers with a power of three spell that night, then you would be dead by now." There was a pause. "The elixir's creator believed there to be three levels of magic vessels. Once the level two host is dead, this elixir transfers to any vessel with level three magic; which means the Charmed Ones and the Twice blessed one. Then it destroys them as well."

Ah, so that was it. Of course! The dream of every demon and evil force was to get rid of the greatest forces of good magic; Which happened to be Wyatt, and then the Charmed ones. If the way to accomplish that was through the Chris, then so be it.

"Because it feeds on magic, it latched on to the only magic link left within me," Chris caught on. "It fed off the supernatural connection between me and the alternate reality. Made it seem more real."

"Yes."

"And because it was more real to you, it started having real world consequences. Like it affected your thoughts and actions." Piper paused, then said. "Now tell us how to reverse your spell."

As Chris opened his mouth to end the spell (by saying 'bingo wings extra fancy'), a new realization dawned on him.

"You're going to take my powers away from me for good," he said tiredly. It wasn't an accusation, rather a statement.

"Please understand, it's the only way to save you. You may not have magic for the rest of your life, but at least you'll be _alive_."

A new voice chimed in while Chris absorbed this. "It's not as bad as you think Buddy. We will be magic-less together." Chris hadn't even known that his dad was in the room.

"Chris, say something," Piper said, worried.

Leo inquired, "What are you thinking about?"

"How much longer do I have?"

"It won't matter as soon as you reverse your spell."

"I want time to think about it."

Piper nearly shouted. "What's to think about?! Life or Death!"

Chris attended Magic School up until seventh grade, which was when he transferred to a public school for a more normal life. (Wyatt had taken the same path.) During his time there he spent many hours pouring over volumes about dark magic. He always had an interest in it. One such volume talked about the exact elixir that was currently working its way along his veins. Even if he didn't know about it from that book, he knew about it from the alternate reality. He knew it well.

He said, with his eyes closed so that he wouldn't have to look at his parents, "If you take away my powers, then whoever unearthed it can just sic it on you all through somebody else; anybody else with level two powers would do. There is only one -which we can do- surefire way to protect people from Vox Adificio. And that way is to infect the blood of the level three person's blood-relative, and kill that person using good magic."

"No," Piper and Leo said at the same time.

Chris cracked open his eyes and looked directly at his mom and dad for the first time. "I'm taking the choice out of your hands. I'll do whatever it takes to protect the my mom, aunts, and brother. I've died for this cause before, and I'll do it again." He gave a chuckle that as more of a sob. "Besides- I'm not important enough to good magic. I was never prophesized about. I'm just your average witch-whitelighter. My destiny is to save the prophesized ones. It always has been."

"We will not do that Christopher. That is that."

"Either kill me and save four important lives; or I'll die anyway because I'm sure as hell not letting you take away my powers."

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_**Review!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**A/N: I know, I know… FINALLY! But what can I say? Life happens.**_

Wyatt had two tasks in life ordained by fate: To be the most powerful magical being in all existence, and to be an awesome big brother. Sure the first one had been explicitly prophesized, but the second was a given; having someone there to protect them was God's gift to little siblings since time's first twilight. The latter job sat in Wyatt as the most important.

And how many times had Chris died to save Wyatt from a great evil so far? So far just once when Wyatt was still a toddler, but that was once too many already. Wyatt meant to turn the world inside out to prevent it from happening again. He refused to allow such an atrocity to occur in front of his eyes while he stood helplessly nearby.

Wyatt gazed across the room at Chris. Leo and Piper were in bed to get as much rest as they could manage (aka: they probably weren't sleeping at all. Most likely they either stared at the ceiling from bed or tossed around.) while Wyatt kept vigil at Chris' sickbed. _Chris' deathbed,_ a cruel part of Wyatt's brain corrected. His brother- his best friend for life!- laid as still and silent as a rock. The cold voice struck again. _Or a corpse…_ No, no, never!

Wyatt sat at Chris's desk and was attempting to work on some statistics assignment. He had the lamp on a low setting so as not to disturb the bed's occupant. Wyatt suspected that he could blow up everything in the room and still not disturb Chris.

Chris' face looked ghastly. The light threw harsh shadows under and around facial features. Suddenly Chris moaned in his sleep. Wyatt showed up by his side in a flash. Lids previously cemented together slid apart.

"Wy?"

"Where does it hurt?" Wyatt perched at the edge of the bed.

"I'm fine," Chris protested. His actions belied his words. Every one of his muscles strained tight against their epidermis boundary.

"you don't look fine. Thirsty? Hungry? Need some meds?"

The ghost of a smile flickered across Chris' face. "I don't think Advil will help much, but go give it a try." Wyatt helped pour the medicine tablets and water down Chris' throat. "I need a distraction," Chris said, grimacing. He indicated his desk. "What were you doing over there?"

"I'm working on stat. It doesn't matter anyway. I've been stuck on the same problem for the past hour.

"Let me see."

Wyatt retrieved his textbook and supplies while Chris turned on the light behind his head.

"I told you it was impossible," Wyatt said after Chris stared at the problem for a good couple of minutes.

"I don't know," Chris answered. "It wouldn't be so hard if you had gotten the standard deviation right. You plugged in all the wrong numbers because of that." Wyatt peered at the paper.

"Of course!" He exclaimed. He took ereaser to paper and smattered on new, correct answers. "Hmm, so what do these numbers tell me," Wyatt wondered out loud. He absently tapped his pencil against his cheek.

"Duh Wyatt. Reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is a significant improvement in out patients. Geesh, and to think you want to be a doctor. I wouldn't let you near me when you can't even do elementary statistics of medicine." Chris smiled to let Wyatt know he was just teasing.

The smile morphed suddenly into a grimace of pain. Arm, leg, and torso muscles trembled in agony. Innately, Wyatt stretched out his hand and massaged Chris' forearm with long fingers. The trembling lessened slightly. "Harder," demanded Chris. Wyatt increased the pressure. The shaking area around Chris' forearm subsided. Chris took his left hand and started to rub hard on his calves where the pain was most overwhelming. He didn't do a very good job of it though because his fingers shook too hard to be any real help.

Wyatt's hand pushed Chris' away. "I'll do that." Slowly, on rub at a time, the agony in Chris' body was ameliorated everywhere save for his back. Wyatt scooted Chris forward and slid behind him so that Chris' back faced Wyatt's front and Wyatt's legs straddled on either side of Chris.

"I feel like I'm five," Chris grumbled half-heartedly. He didn't dare tell his brother to stop, though. He didn't want the pain to come back full force. His back rub was relaxing him back into sleep. His state of mind was more out of awareness than in it. "After I die," Chris said. Wyatt's hands clenched. Chris did not notice. "Be careful. I won't be around to save you anymore."

"You shouldn't have had to in the past." Bitterness made Wyatt's tone hard.

"Don't be silly. It's what I was born to do. You were born to save the world from evil, and I was born to save you."

"Shut up Chris."

"Don't be upset. That's just how it is."

"Of course I'm upset. I'm 'upset' that you're dying, I'm upset that you're okay with it, and I'm upset as heck that you think so little of yourself."

"Come on Wyatt," Chris teased. "We're big boys now. You can say "hell"."

"Stop joking," snapped Wyatt.

Chris got serious. "I'm sorry. I just don't know how else to act… what else to say… I have a headache and it's hard to do the conversation/ talking thing."

"Just tell me that you don't really want to die."

"I've accepted my fate." Chris paused before he actually admitted his feelings. Curiously, his intense headache made his words begin to run together. He lay prone.

"I don't want to die," Chris slurred out, sage eyes dark with pain.

Wyatt closed his eyes helplessly and tightened his grip on his little brother. "I won't let you," he vowed. Surely Charmed power combined with his would be enough. It had to be.

Long after Chris fell asleep, Wyatt stared grimly into the pitch of night. He couldn't imagine a life without his stubborn, smart, and smart-aleck brother. Chris refused to let them take away his powers and leave them vulnerable, fine. But whatever sacrifice was needed to keep Chris alive, Wyatt would do it. Whatever price was demanded, Wyatt would pay no matter the cost.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Mommy, is your premonition of Chris dying coming true?" Pandora looked up from her coloring book at her mother.

"No SweetPea," said Phoebe.

"What's going to happen to change it?"

Phoebe forced a too bright smile. "We don't know yet."

"But," Pandora started.

"You know what Sweetie," Phoebe interjected. "Why don't you go watch cartoons in the conservatory?"

"Okay!" The little girl jumped up and ran out of the living room.

As soon as child was out of earshot, Phoebe turned and buried her head into Paige's shoulder. Both were seated on a couch in the manor's living room. Phoebe bleated, "My vision IS going to come true unless we find a way to stop it."

Paige's eyes started to burn and water. "This is the second time I've had to watch him die."

"Poor Piper and Leo," Phoebe sniffed.

"And poor Wyatt," Paige added.

Phoebe agreed, "He might soon be the only Halliwell boy." They heard the front door open. A cute blonde in her thirties walked into sight.

"Billie?"

"Oh, hey guys." Billie Jenkins was obviously just as surprised to see Paige and Phoebe as they were to see her. "I'd thought you'd be…" She trailed off.

"What are you doing here?"

"To see how Chris is doing of course."

Phoebe scooted over to make room for Billie. "You are such a darling. He's not doing so well. Paige and I were just about-"

"Uh, I want to hear all about it, but I really have to go upstairs and use the bathroom." The woman skittered up the stairs and out of sight.

"Denial," Phoebe said wisely.

Paige told Phobe, "This is kind of changing the subject, but I couldn't help but notice that "Ask Phoebe" is awful bleak lately lady."

"I know. I know I'm not supposed to, but it's hard to help that my column reflects how I feel. And I'm feeling pretty morose."

"I've always known that. Like when Wyatt was born you didn't write about anything but baby stuff. Before this current fiasco started, your column was all lovey-dovey puppies and rainbows."

"I miss those days." Phoebe looked up wistfully at the ceiling.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Billie, up here," Wyatt hissed from his perch on the attic stairs.

Billie rushed up to him. He grabbed her wrist. "Let's go."

The woman dug her heels into the carpet treads. "Hold on a second. Let's talk about this. I still think that this is a really, really bad idea."

Wyatt stared at her. He stated simply, "It's the only way." Billie recognized the desperation on Wyatt's face that must have been on her own face in all the time she searched for Christie. She remembered the pain and devastation she felt when her sister died, and she and Christie weren't near as close as Wyatt and Chris. Billie didn't want Wyatt to feel those emotions so intensely.

"Okay, just so long as it's out there."

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_"What the F-?!" Chris dodged a fireball just in time and rolled to the relative safety of a dumpster._

_Sulna didn't look at him. Instead she focused on freezing adversaries as they came. She bit out, "What were you saying about this being an 'easy, two-person' job?"_

_Chris said defensively as he made a blade fly into a witch's chest, "It was supposed to be. I don't know why Demons and Witches are working together on this case." Sulna was about to reply, but she never got the chance. A shock of lightning went through her being. Just like that, she was dead._

_"Great," Chris groused. "One versus twenty. Those are good odds."_

_Kicks, Tks, jabs, and stabs flowed from the witchlighter. Six down, about fourteen to go. A witch with Pyrokenisis threw a large, man-size flamethrower at Chris' back. He was so absorbed in whipping on two demons that he didn't see it coming. He sure felt it, however, when flames engulfed his being. _

_That was the moment Chris knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would die; never see his cousin or grandfather again, never save his brother._

_He waited for the final blow to take wipe him from the planet. It never came. Chris' burned eyes could barely see. Someone shimmered into the room. Chris did not know what occured next. Time meant nothing due to the burns on his skin and in his organs. It took awhile for him to connect that someone was speaking to him._

_"You're going to be fine."_

_He wasn't going to die? A part of him was disappointed. But who saved him? He willed himself to see through skilleted eyes. Limp bodies and piles of ash were deposited helter skelter. That didn't matter. What mattered was the person leaning over him. Long, brunette hair brushed a raw cheek. It felt like a thousand needles digging into his flesh rather than the silky hair it looked like._

_"Bianca?" A mixture of surprise and burned vocal chords made his voice sound extremely raw. "What the hell are you doing here?"_

_"Obviously I felt like saving your helpless ass."_

_"I was doing fine." Chris didn't need the sense of sight to see her roll her eyes._

_"Whatever. You macho man you." She shimmered away. Only the soft hiss of burning ash interuppted the silence in her wake._

_Chris stayed there longer. Hoping against hope that he would die from his injuries so that he could stop fighting for a lost cause. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one could look at it, his blistering wounds were not fatal. They were only extremely painful; a ten on the painscale that doctors make patients point at._

_Chris orbed away._


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

**_Check it out, I found time to update! My classes were cancelled, my officer meetings were postponed, and I didn't have to go to either of my jobs because everything in town closed down because of Hurricane Ike. So now I have a three day weekend to dedicate myself to Fanfiction. Isn't that fantabulous?_**

_**And I'm not going to lie, I'm excited for the hurricane to hit full force tonight. I LOVE crazy weather… and running in the rain.**_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

He was in that halfway place between being alive and being dead. Everything was muted. The colors of the room, the sounds of his family talking, the feel of the air conditioning on his skin; all taciturn. A second clue that he was moving on was the fact that he was standing over his body. He supposed it was too late to get a tan for his casket viewing.

"Boo," a voice behind him said. Chris slowly turned. A petite woman with dark hair and eyes watched him.

In his entire life, Chris had only seen video footage and photographs of this woman. He knew who she was, how she died, and knew that his mom still cried every year on the anniversary of this woman's death.

"Aunt Prue."

The woman's mouth turned up in a smile, but her eyes were sad. "In the flesh- kind of. Now get over here and give your old aunt a hug." Chris complied.

"You don't look old," he disagreed.

"Well, that tends to happen when you die young," Prue conceded. "What is it about the two of us that we insist on dying when we look our best?" Chris made himself chuckle for his aunt's sake. He turned to look forlornly back at his dying form. Prue came to stand by him. "You're body is in a coma."

Chris drawled sarcastically, "Really? Do you think doc?"

Prue held up her hands in defense. "Hey hey hey, you're generation is oblivious to everything obvious. Excuse me for lumping you into a stereotype."

This time Chris' laugh sounded more natural.

"So whom do I thank for the honor of your company?"

"I'm allowed to keep you company until the angel of death comes for you." Prue looked wry. "I had to fight with your grandmother and great grandmother for the privilege. I didn't seem fair that they both got to meet you and I never have."

"Because the elders said it to was too soon for Mom or Aunt phoebe to see you again," Cris finished. Prue nodded.

"That's true, but the time has almost come where the rule doesn't apply anymore." Prue gazed with a mixture of sadness and pride at Piper, who was in the room. Prue reached out a hand to stroke Piper's long hair, but her hand went through Piper's entire head. The big sister settled for holding the back of her hand just against Piper's cheek. "She's become such a strong individual."

"But she didn't have a choice," Chris observed. "It's weird that you're the big sister. Mom looks so much older than you." As soon as Chris said the words he wished he could snatch them back. They gave Prue such an incredibly heartrending look.

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I never stopped watching them, you know. It's so second nature to watch over an protect your little siblings. It's a unique kind of love." Her voice became thick with regret. "I shouldn't have left them. They needed me."

"They managed without you." Chris had been trying to comfort Prue, but the words did not have their intended effect. Chris was trying to think of a follow up when Prue shook her head and pulled her hand back to her side. "Enough about me. We're here for you."

"As it rightfully should be," laughed Chris.

"What are you thinking about kid?" Prue caught her nephews melancholy expression.

Chris hedged, "It's not important."

Prue sighed and shot him a look.

Finally he said, "I was just… comparing the two lives I've lived."

"Care to elaborate?"

Before Chris could respond, a man stepped out of the haze that was common in limbo. "Are you ready?" The Angel of Death held out a hand to Chris. Chris shook his head. "Nope. I think I'll stick around here."

"I'm sorry. If I had a life I would give it up for you," said Prue.

Chris sighed, squared his shoulders, and firmly gripped the Angel of Death's hand. He looked like a man ready to take on anything, including death.

Something happened though. One second he was walking toward the light and feeling fuzzy, and the next (literally) he shot ramrod straight up in bed. He gave his bedside family quite the fright.

"What happened?!" He demanded.

Piper put her hand on his shoulder. "Chris? How do you feel Peanut?"

"I feel fine." He looked suspicious. "But why?"

"I have no idea, but I'm not complaining." His mom leaned over and embraced him. Leo wrapped long arms aroung both of them.

Piper pushed Chris away at arms' length to inspect him. Her cool hands brushed against his forehead. "You're color is better. You're temperature is gone. I don't want to question it, but I don't understand."

Chris shrugged. "I'm sure we'll find out. We always do."

Coop, who was watching the happy moment over his petite wife's head, wondered aloud, "Where's Wyatt? He should be part of this too."

"We'll get him here. Wyatt? Can you come here please? We have good news." Blue orbs arrived.

"I'm always up for that kind of news," said a disheveled Wyatt.

"Isn't it wonderful," Piper babbled. "Chris is better!" The woman was so thrilled that her youngest son was okay she didn't even allow herself to question it; lest it be too good to be true.

A genuine smile crossed Wyatt's face. "That's wonderful." Chris eyed his brother sharply. There was no denying Wyatt's overjoyed expression, but something was off about his body's demeanor. It was as if Wyatt shouldered some new burden. Chris knew that look well.

The convalesced man stood up from his bed for the first time in a long time, crossed the room, and hugged his brother. Chris took a good whiff of Wyatt's shirt as he leaned in. There was no doubt about it; Wyatt just came from the underworld. It gave off a _very_ distinctive odor. The younger man of the two leaned back to glare; he knew how to pull off angry/accusing. _'What did you do…'_

Wyatt raised his eyebrows, feigning innocence.

Chris was a good liar.

Wyatt wasn't.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

One week later Chris finally got Wyatt alone. It wasn't easy what with aunts, parents, extended family, and an endless supply of cousins fawning over him. It didn't help that Wyatt avoided him.

"Damn it, where are you?" Chris muttered, trying unsuccessfully for the umpteenth time to sense the twice-blessed witch. Wyatt kept blocking their link. (He got his magic back, thanks to his magic words 'bingo wings- extra fancy'.)

"Do you need anything kids?" Piper popped her head into the conservatory.

"Cookies!" Chimed Laura and Grace.

"And juice," Warren added.

"Anything for you Peanut?"

"I'm good Mom." Chris fiddled with his game controller.

"Are you sure you don't want a blanket, or a cup of coco?"

"I'm positive Mom." Chris wondered how long the being-tended-on-hand-and-foot would last. Many members of the Halliwell family had near-death moments in the past. So if history was any indication, he had to put up with being pampered for only a few days longer.

Piper said, "Okay, but if you change your mind…"

"I know where to find you."

"I'm beating you Chris," Laura announced in delight.

"I'll catch up," Chris warned her. But he wouldn't. He always went easy on his little cousins. They were only on the seventh dungeon level and Chris had single handedly beaten the entire game before. Armed with cookies and drinks, Piper reappeared just as Chris 'lost' his last life.

"I haven't seen Wyatt in awhile. I think I'll orb on over see what he's up to."

"Ah, don't leave. We'll start the game over," Grace begged.

"That's okay squirt, I couldn't stand the humiliation of losing to the master again," Chris responded and Grace giggled.

"Can't Wyatt come here instead of you leaving the house." Piper looked disappointed.

"Probably, but I want a change of scenery for awhile." Chris orbed to Stanford before anyone could protest.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

Wyatt walked into his miniscule dorm room. It had been a long day.

He threw his navy backpack on the bed right next to the door. Then he reached to flip up the light switch. A figure was waiting for him.

"Gah," Wyatt gasped. He raised his hands reflexively to explode any danger. Chris raised an eyebrow. Wyatt snapped his arms to the side. With that motion, his printer/scanner blew up.

"I could have blown you up!" Wyatt yelled, upset.

Chris uncrossed his arms to shrug. "It's been known to happen."

Wyatt frowned.

"What did you do to save me?" Chris asked bluntly.

Wyatt muttered, "How are you too…"

"I'd rather not beat around the bush and give you time to plan your escape."

Wyatt sank down heavily on the bed. He rubbed a hand through his hair. "You don't understand," He sighed.

Chris pivoted the desk chair around on its leg so the back faced Wyatt. He straddled his legs while his arms hooked over the back. "Then explain it to me."

"I had to do something. I saw your point of view, but I couldn't very well let anything bad happen to you. So I did something… bad," Wyatt confessed.

Chris frowned. "How bad could it possibly be?"

Wyatt simply changed the subject. "I can't believe you are the only one getting onto me."

"Well, I don't think Mom or Dad really want to know. They liked the result, and ignorance is bliss and what not. I'm not deterred that easily."

"The SATs are over."

Silence succumbed over the little 15x13 room. Chris stared expectantly at Wyatt. Wyatt fiddled with a loose thread on the bedspread.

Finally, Chris prompted, "You did something bad…"

"Yes."

"Will any innocents get hurt as a result of this something bad?"

"Maybe… most likely… yes."

This caused Chris to pause. "Really? Just tell me Wy, the suspense is killing me. We'll fix it together."

"I exchanged something of mine in return for your life. I made a deal so that the Vox Adficio can't come after me or the Charmed ones, so you don't have to worry about that aspect."

"Just tell me," Chris ground out. It was like pulling teeth. One painful molar at a time. Getting information out of Wyatt usually wasn't this hard.

"Excalibur."

"What?" He must have misheard.

"I gave away Exalibur."

Chris allowed the shock of this to sink in. "This is really bad."

"I know."

"I'm talking really, really bad."

"I know."

"Do you know how much power the bad side has now."

"I know!"

Chris blew out a long breath of air. "Well okay then. Let's fix this."

Wyatt looked up miserably. "You're not going to lecture me."

Uncharacteristically gentle, Chris said, "I think you already know everything I would have to say."

"I _have_ had a week to think about it," Wyatt deadpanned.

"Do you regret it?"

"Not at all!" Wyatt exclaimed venomously. "I would do it again."

"Okay then. You got me back. So let's work together instead of this 'avoid Chris' thing you have going."

"We are a pretty unstoppable force." Wyatt smiled serenely.

"We Halliwell men can do anything."

"The best team."

Chris rolled his eyes. "This cheesy brother bonding is getting pretty old. Let's go brainstorm while we play a manly round of Street Sniper 3 on your Sega."

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_**P.S. I got a few reviews and PMs regarding reader befuddlement about the end of the last chapter. That was a jump to 'Alternate-Universe' Chris and what's up with him. Some of you may recall that I like to sprinkle him along in the story as well. ;)**_

_**P.P.S. I know of many, many people who strongly dislike Billie. She won't appear in this story much, but I've never had a problem with her. Based on the show, I always pictured her as being part of the Halliwells' lives forevermore. So she stays.**_

_**P.P.P.S. Please review. I Love reviews almost as much as bad weather. I'll update faster…**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

_**A/N: I redid this agonizing chapter time and time again- only to have it still turn out not quite true to my vision. The next chapter just needs to be typed (I wrote it longhand long before this one). It ties up every loose end very nicely, if I do say so myself. Then that will be the end of this chronicle!**_

Chris and Wyatt stood back to back, hands waving and fingers flexing, to eliminate adversary advancement. "You just had to give away Excalibur," Chris muttered.

Wyatt tried to blow up a couple molecular resilient demons, and then ended up electrocuting the life out of them as a second resort. "Totally worth it," he responded to Chris.

Chris tk'ed a loose trashcan lid to decapitate a nearby demon. "I swear that I've already vanquished that one twice."

Busy, Wyatt agreed through his teeth, "They all start to look the same after awhile."

"I swear, the whole fight-in-a-deserted-alley thing is so cliché. Trope even."

Wyatt pointed out, "We've been over this before."

"So we might as well have the same conversation every time if we're obligated to stare at a repeat scenario. Enforced déjà vu anyone? Anyone?" Chris did away with a few more before encountering a very distinctive demon with slashed ears and non-existent nose. "Oh my God!"

"What happened!?!"

Chris flung the demon so its spinal cord hit a spiked crate. "A few are regenerating! We've been killing, or supposedly killing, the same one."

"Are you serious?"

"No, just kidding. I thought it would be funny to make a statement about the duplication of demons- Of course I'm serious!"

"This fight will never end!" Wyatt groaned.

"We need to get Excalibur back- stat."

"We would be there already if we acted on what that one demon said."

"We need to double check our sources Wy. Did you learn absolutely nothing from-"

Wyatt cut him off. "Yeah yeah I get it."

Chris continued anyway. "_I _wanted to make sure the vampire wasn't lying by questioning a second, unrelated one so they couldn't get their stories straight, but _you _insisted it was good enough. So what happened? We wasted two and a half months undercover going after the wrong 'big bad'."

"I get it. You don't have to rub my face in it by repeating the story."

"I can and I did sir."

"There is no need for a British accent."

"Au contraire mon fraire"

"Now you're just doing overdone accents to annoy me."

"Si Senor."

Hoping to change the subject, Wyatt pointed out. "The regenerating ones stopped regenerating. But why, where did they go?"

Chris did away with the last foe on his side and turned to see Wyatt about to finish off a wounded one. "No!" Chris jerked Wyatt's arm, causing the elder Halliwell to explode part of the building. Wyatt hastily threw a protective shield around both of them. Loose debris and brick cracked against the shield. "We need him for questioning," responded Chris to Wyatt's glare. "You go tell mom we're alive," he stalked to the downed (but living) demon. A harsh look ensconced his features. "and I will question the witness."

"I could do that," Wyatt offered half-heartedly. Chris' gaze flicked up. Unnaturally cruel features softened slightly. He admonished affectionately, "You couldn't get a bunny to talk." A person could tell by the way he said it that Chris wouldn't have it any other way. He orbed away with the demon in tow. Wyatt shuddered. He only admitted it to himself, but he became scared whenever Chris delved into his Alternate Universe practices. They originated from a dark place Wyatt never knew.

The manor looked in typical post-battle fashion when Wyatt orbed in.

"What the hell is up with all the recent demon attacks?!" Piper exclaimed. "Is there some demonic revolution going on that we don't know about?!" _'You don't know how right you are mom,'_ Wyatt thought. Piper spotted him. "Where's Chris?"

"He's doing some cover-up." He helped Piper set up an askew loveseat. Good thing his mom was so distracted that by her home's state that she didn't pick up his lie; because (as no one would let him forget!) Wyatt could not lie well. For that very reason, Wyatt typically beat it out of a public scene to let Chris BS their way out of a cop's or citizen's accusation.

Chris appeared when their clean-up finished up.

"Good timing."

"I know," Chris said, not acknowledging the sarcasm.

Wyatt caught Chris' eye and raised an eyebrow. The brunette's mouth slitted into a grim line. He nodded once.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Piper's eyes were narrowed with well-practiced suspicion as she took in the sight of her boys (two biological and one surrogate) loading up the back of Leo's truck. She didn't know what to say, so she opted for supervising the driveway with arms akimbo.

"So you really want to go camping." She hooked the question onto Wyatt as he walked around the passenger side of the truck with piles of fishing gear. Wyatt's facial muscles spasmed- her child -bless his heart- could not lie if his life depended on it. Chris materialized form nowhere (the non-magical way) to shove himself between Wyatt and Piper.

"Mom," he lectured. An open, honest look adorned his face. "We already told you that me, Manny and Wyatt want to spend part of the summer camping the old-fashioned way."

Manny came up to join the conversation. Throwing an arm around Piper, he said, "Yeah Mrs. H. You don't want our muscles to go soft by relying on magic all the time. We just want to do what any college men want to do: prove our manhood by roughing it. Pitching tents, going toilet-less…"

"Well two of us are," Chris teased. He snatched Manny's backpack from his friend's loose hold and unzipped it in one motion. "What's in here Mr. Manly Man? Lotion… double-quilted toilet paper, processed snacks…"

Manny snatched it back. "That's mine!" Rose tint tinged the half-manticore's cheeks.

Chris (kindly) let the subject drop. "Anyhoo, we're ready to go and burning daylight." Chris pecked his mom's cheek. "See ya mom."

"Not so fast mister." Piper pulled her peanut into a prolonged bear hug. Leo came out of the manor to get one of his own. Wyatt bade his parents farewell appropriately too before the three boys piled into the tight cab. The Mr. and Mrs. of the house waved to the truck until it went out of view over the neighborhood hill.

"There is no way they're actually going camping," Piper said.

Leo laughed. "I never bought either."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Manny pumped his fist. "They totally bought it!"

"MmmHmmm," Wyatt hmmed even thought he didn't pay attention. He focused too hard on his magic for outside conversation. He concentrated on making any witnesses around the neighborhood just happen to look away and not notice the truck subtly disappearing from the asphalt. Then, in a great feat of magic, he made the truck drive into the middle of a California state park. (And no one would ever know that something supernatural went down.) He slowed the truck to a stop under the shady protection of a tree grove. Checking his companions out of the corner of his eyes, he was relieved to see Chris and Manny relaxed and casually chatting with each other.

They were the only two people in the magical world that didn't treat him like a god sent straight down from heaven. Even his parent s sometimes slipped and looked at him with pure awe. Actually, he took his previous statement back; Manny often viewed him reverently after complexly large magic spells, even though he acted casual and joked about it. Only Chris always treated the Twice Blessed one as a person. A fact for which Wyatt was endlessly grateful. Although he feared asking, he mused that Chris viewed him at his worst in the Alternate World. Probably nothing he could do scared Chris after that.

"Wyatt," Chris said. "What are you waiting for?"

"Oh sorry." He climbed out of the cab to where Chris and Manny waited atop a blanket of forest moss. Wyatt focused . New freckles peppered along tan skin Old looking scars appeared. Muscles reshaped while a bulbous nose emerged. Blue eyes darkened to black and clipped blond hair grew shaggy and brown. Within seconds, the power of glamouring transformed Wyatts' appearance into a rather unattractive demon.

"What an improvement!" Chris cracked.

Wyatt threatened, "You're next." He changed Chris into a non-descript demon. (He wanted the least amount of attention as possible drawn to his baby brother.) Next he 'fixed' Manny. Chris watched as Wyatt concentrated. Not because it was hard for Wyatt, but because he wanted to get the details right. All day Wyatt employed many different, strong powers so casually. It impressed him more than he could ever truly express (Thus he did not).

"To the underworld," Manny declared, holding out his hands. His friends grabbed onto one of his forearms each, and they simmered into the underworld.

Wyatt let go wobbled. "Ugh, I hate how simmering makes me feel."

A hand subtly steadied him. Chris murmured, "Act cool dude. Demons don't get sick after simmering, whitelighters do, and they know it." Wyatt nodded and straightened. "Good, now let's scope out the scene to find us some info."

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

Wyatt and Manny tried to be casual. Tried being the operative word.

"Think demonic thoughts," Chris had advised before disappearing to get the information they needed in his own way.

Well Chris wasn't the only one that could make his way in the underworld. Wyatt and Danny hung around the a large social gathering of demonic creatures.

Wyatt meandered up and leaned near a demonic looking fellow. "So," he said casually, "What's new?" The guy just glared at Wyatt and stalked away.

"You have to be meaner about it. Meanness is their language," Manny said, too low for anyone but Wyatt to hear. "Like this." He stalked to another. He prodded the guy in the chest. Before Manny got a single word out, the towering man punched Manny back into Wyatt.

"Smooth."

"Shut up."

"So how long is you-know-who going to take?"

Wyatt ran a hand through his hair. Even though he knew he was glamoured, course hair felt wrong. Everything seemed off. He couldn't wait to get his real body back.

"Have you noticed the atmosphere down here?" Manny whispered, almost inaudibly.

Wyatt nodded. "It is," he searched for the right word, "_tense."_ It was an understatement. Normally the underworld was an callous place, but at least there was a some sense of enjoyment going on. Today every creature and demon acted anxious and remained close-lipped, even with each other. It was a though the whole underworld held its breath, waiting for some unknown verdict.

"I'm worried about Chris being on his own," Manny admitted quietly.

"Don't be, he can take care of himself."

"This is a turned over leaf. You're not obsessively worried for once."

"Oh I am. I'm watching our brother bond link like a hawk. He doesn't feel scared. And if anything physical happens to him, I will know."

"So how does he feel?" Wyatt rolled his eyes and didn't answer.

"Maybe we should stick close in case he needs back up."

Wyatt agreed. He followed his and Chris mystical link. "That's him over in the corner. Behind the stagmite."

"Stalagmite," Manny corrected as he inconspicuously peered into the gloom. He wolf whistled through his teeth. "Man, Chris found a babe."

"And they've been at it for hours." He made a face.

"You've got to admit, Chris is kind of a player for being fresh out of high school. He's going to be a hit with the college ladies."

"Because they'll believe anything the liar tells them."

Manny snorted, "You're one to talk you big hypocrite. You're the star athlete golden boy who every single girl has a crush on."

"That was high school."

Sarcastically, "Yeah, because it all changed for the worse when you left."

"Look." Multiple nearby demons shimmered from view.

Chris emerged with his demoness from the shadows, and sauntered near Manny and Wyatt with her hand in his. "Let's go baby," Chris said to the girl, and slyly held out his hand, obviously for Wyatt and Manny to grab onto. Just as they complied, the demoness shimmered, taking all three boys with her. They appeared in a large, dank auditorium. On a high ground stood a prominent figure holding…

"Excalibur," Wyatt hissed. Without thinking, Wyatt held out his hand to orb his legacy to him. The famous sword glimmered blue for a moment, but the raven haired sword weilder's mouth moved and it remained in his grasp. An expletive left Wyatt's mouth followed by, "I need to be closer." The crowds shifted and pointed. The noise volume turned up and most demons searched around with befuddled paranoia.

The demoness Chris had them hitch a ride with turned, "What the hell-" she hissed. Chris slipped a blade into her heart for a quick vanquish. Her disappearing puff went unremarked upon. Chris put the blade away and made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. He remarked, "I can't wait for a date with my toothbrush. I've had that bitch's tongue slime all over me for… for too long."

"So what did you find out?"

"The obvious news is that that guy over there," point, "has Excalibur."

"The bad news is that this is his army and any minute now he is going to lead the first of six strategic attacks against Earth."

Wyatt's and Manny's eyes bugged straight out of their skulls. The fact that it wasn't even their faces made the sight interesting. The three huddled even closer together.

"So this is good timing," Wyatt said slowly. "We're in time to stop the first attack. I'll just tk it to me."

"You'll be dead before it gets to you with all these supercharged demons surrounding us," Chris warned. "We're quite literally surrounded by the enemy."

"So this is bad timing then," Manny said unhelpfully.

Chris said, "Depending on how you look at it, it can be awful or awesome timing."

The demon wielding the powerful sword raised it high and shouted something in another language. The multitudes surrounding him responded by pounding their roaring and focusing on their leader.

In the clamor Manny cried, "What'd he say?! Is that good or bad?!"

"I think it's the sign to start the attack."

"We need to do something before they all shimmer out of here."

"We need a plan."

"Why do both always look at me?"

"You always have a plan."c

"Okay I have one. Wyatt runs down the center line. Hopefully he'll blend in with the confusion so that by the time anyone notices him he'll be close enough to get Exalibur. Me and Manny will run back-up for him."

"That's your plan? Make a run for it."

"No, make a run for it through an army of dangerous demons."

"We're dead."

Wyatt's eyes looked desperate. "There has to be another way. I didn't save you just to lose you in the cross fire."

"You doubt your ultimate power too much. We'll be fine."

Manny hedged, "Uh, guys. We do have a _time limit_ here."

Wyatt said, "Okay, ready?"

"No."

"Ready?"

"Now!" shouted Chris. The three men sprinted pell-mell into the frenzy.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chris Chronicles**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**_

_The night's temperature was a couple degrees above freezing, but to Chris it felt like a sauna. Fighting heated up muscles in that way. His hoodie lay in a heap somewhere down the block. _

_He was in the middle of a mission with the resistance. An old-school ski mask covered his face so that Wyatt's fighters would not recognize him. He ducked a fist and threw his trusty left hook, followed by his more trusty right hook. A stab in the jugular, and he was on to the next… It was Bianca._

_He figured this day would come eventually. They played together as young children, but he couldn't think of that now; he shut his mind down to take her out. But she wasn't known as a renowned warrior for a charade. The two witches battled back and forth, pants getting heavier and heavier; leading, retreating farther and farther into the shadows as their comrades fell to death's stink. Finally Bianca pinned Chris with her knee digging into his clavicle and her phoenix athame strategically placed. Her spare hand ripped the mask from his face._

_She recovered from her surprise quickly. "Well well… if there isn't a traitor in our midst."_

_"Just kill me," Chris sighed._

_"Lord Wyatt would murder me on the spot for your slaying."_

_Chris suggested, "Then don't tell him."_

_"No. I ought to shimmer you straight to Wyatt right now and let him know about your little extracurricular activities." Chris internally shuddered at the fate awaiting him if that happened. He wouldn't die (Wyatt would never allow that), but he sure would wish for it._

_"Get it over with!" he challenged._

_Bianca didn't move. She continued to half-straddle him. She was looking right at him, but her eyes were unfocused, like she was staring straight through him to the concrete behind his head. She finally spoke, voice low. "Before Lord Wyatt's World Reformation, I enjoyed the cunning aspects of a hunt, the grace of a worthy kill. The life I live now offers none of that, save for a handful of righteous rebels to whet my appetite now and again." She slid off of him and sauntered off down the block a bit toward the team under her command. "Move out," She barked._

_Chris waited and waited for the iron fist to come down in the following weeks, but it never came. Bianca obviously never told on him. But why? That was what bothered him. Did the ice queen actually have a heart somewhere under all that hard-edged malice? Maybe._

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

Wyatt, with his brother and best friend at his heels, ran. He magically cleared a path, and weapons flew from their masters' grips where Chris worked his power.

His mind screamed –an urgent shriek!- to run faster. Because it was a race against time, a race against evil; and to lose the race meant to lose innocent lives. His legs kept pumping. His magic kept clearing the way. His brother and friend were taking care of the nearest threats. All he could do was pray they did their job and didn't get hurt in the process.

Fifty yards away… Forty yards… Thirty… Oily-haired guy holding Excalibur looked down at him defiantly. He put his arms straight in front of him with the hilt grasped aloft between entwined knuckles. Stupid demon didn't know to look anxious when the Twice Blessed Halliwell charged. But then again, according to his mom, Excalibur made any wielder other than it's rightful owner prideful and overconfident.

Twenty yards now. Sharp pressure dug into his shoulder. It disappeared. A pained grunt could be heard nearby just under the army's din. He flew up the incline. Ten yards, five, one. Wyatt magically neutralized the air around him so that the demon's powers couldn't touch him and body slammed it. In the process, he scrambled for the sword hilt. Good and evil scrambled upon sharp rocks. Out of the corner of his eye, Wyatt spotted one of demon's minions ready to join in the fight, but Manny intercepted the attack. Grunting, Wyatt yanked with all his might and employed his lower body strength to kick away. The demon shouted unintelligibly with rage, and then disappeared just as Wyatt attacked within an inch of unhuman flesh.

The Twice Blessed one leapt up to his feet and held Exalibur in the air. He threw a protective shield around Chris' and Manny's forms before rolling a blast of pure fire power in a outward ring around him that grew out and out. Any demon or creature that it touched vanquished instantly. He didn't have to worry about holding back his magic in check here. It felt magnificent!

Every single conscience demon scattered or shimmered to safety- the cowards.

Chris looked up from where he landed on the ground. He saw a silhouette on a raised patch of ground with a gleaming sword held high. Unadulterated power flowed from the being. The awe-inspiring, glorious sight looked like a painting. It was a wonder Chris' inferiority complex wasn't humongous.

Wyatt cut off his blazing ring and stopped the stream of magic flowing from him. Only he, Chris, and Manny remained in the large space. He dropped his arms down to his sides.

"Are you guys all right?"

"I'm fine, thanks to your suicidal little brother." Manny stood up slowly and brushed dirt from his clothes. All the while he glared at Chris. He instructed angrily. "Don't you ever put yourself in danger for me like that again Halliwell!"

Chris sat in the shadow of the incline, so seeing him clearly proved difficult. Wyatt could hear the tiredness in Chris' voice when he said, "It's better for me to take the bullet. Wyatt can heal me completely, but he can only heal half of you. What would your dad say if you came home with broken bones from a camping trip." A short laugh came out. "I wasn't just taking a hit for you, I was saving our story credibility."

Wyatt moved toward his brother and blanched. He rushed forward to use his healing power. Bones reattached themselves, blood sucked back , and gashes knitted together.

"Thanks," Chris said after his beaten up body reformed to its normal, healthy shape..

Wyatt helped him to his feet. Then he healed Manny's small wounds as much as possible. Finally, Wyatt focused internally on his own body. He was the only whitelighter ever who could heal himself. He usually preferred Aunt Paige to heal him if it were an option, because healing himself was a long and trying task.

When he finished, Wyatt announced, "Okay, let's go."

Manny grumbled, "Finally."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Wyatt was the first to notice the pretty woman lurking at the end of the driveway when they got out of the truck. Expensive looking clothes adorned her fit frame and long hair hung past her shoulders. Wyatt raised his hand in a friendly wave, but the venomous look she threw to him halted anything further than that. Chris looked to whom Wyatt waved to and halted. He stood still until Wyatt and Manny gathered some supplies up from their fake camping trip. He called for those two to go on inside and he would bring the rest of the stuff. Like a bobble on a fishing line, he made his way straight toward her.

"What did you do to me?" She hissed as soon as he came in ear shot. She had never seen this man a day in her life except for in her recent nightmares.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry." Malicious incredulity dripped from her tone.

He explained hastily, "I was under a spell when I did that to you (otherwise I never would have). They're dreams from an alternate universe that the Charmed One changed. I'm guessing you're having some vivid dreams from your point of view?" A brisk nod confirmed his guess. "When I did it, I guess I just didn't want to witness such awful things alone, and the only people who can view the other world are those of us that made the jump to this timeline," he half-smiled, "which is only you and me." He offered, "I'll research for a way to get you out of it." Her face hardened and her lips pursed; an expression he saw her wear a thousand times before in the exact same way. It was kind of surreal to see her in this universe though. Like putting Xena: Warrior Princess into Barney and Friends. "We'll see," she said finally. Bianca glanced surreptitiously around, then shimmered from sight.

Chris ducked his head before turning back toward his home.

"Weren't you going to bring in the rest of the stuff?" Wyatt looked up from where he got roped into playing Connect Four with Pandora.

"Uh, oh yeah." Chris about-faced to rectify his memory lapse. When he came back in the second time Piper was hanging up the phone and telling Manny, "You're dad wants you home on the double." The half-manticore saluted with a "yes, ma'am" and shimmered.

"Chris come play with us!" he heard young voices chorus. Yes, it was definitely Sunday. If he remembered he might have delayed the "camping trip" a little bit longer to get out of the big family dinner. Summer had the tendency of letting days blend together though.

Henry's disembodied voice floated from the kitchen. "Not now girls. Get to the table for dinner." Children and adults gravitated toward the dining room. The kids fought for the side closest to the adults at the kid's table like they did every time.

The Halliwell clan relaxed in each other's company. Laughter and chat mingled. Chris was shoving a spoonful of cobbler in his mouth when Aunt Paige turned to him and asked, "So are you excited that you'll be leaving for school in a month?"

Chris gulped down his mouthful of dessert. "Yeah."

Piper, who overheard the question, looked up. "Yes, Chris. Did you end up accepting your admittance into Stanford or USC?" Chris swallowed.

"Uh, I actually decided to go somewhere else."

Piper's eyes narrowed. "Really, where?"

Chris became aware that most of the room's attention diverted to him. "I chose it based on it's high respectability among colleges, and for the financial aid and scholarships it offered me of course."

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, just _tell_ us."

"Columbia," Chris casually said.

"Columbia University? Like the one in New York?"

"That would be the one."

"But it's so far away!"

"Mom, we can appear anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. I really don't think that distance will be much of an issue."

"But still honey, we won't be around to protect you in an emergency!"

Chris said softly, "I want a taste of independence without being," he willed his eyes not to look over at Wyatt or the other two members of the Charmed trio, "overshadowed." He stirred the remains of his ice cream into the small pile of cobbler.

Leo interjected after a small bout of silence, "We can talk about this later."

Chris searched his mind for a new topic of conversation, then literally gasped out loud. An ecstatic beam lit his face. "I have exciting news!" He announced.

"What is it?" Piper couldn't help but smile at how happy her son looked.

"Everybody stay here," Chris commanded before dashing out of the room with a clatter of his chair. His family eyed his vacated spot with befuddlement. They didn't have a long wait however. Chris orbed into sight with the Book of Shadows and five candles, the latter of which he placed in a circle. He lit them with a practiced hand.

Still smiling, he read, "Here these words. Hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide."

"Why are you…" Phoebe began, but then trailed off when a familiar figure ghosted into existence within the circle. "Oh my God."

"Oh my God!" Piper repeated. After a single beat, Piper and Phobe leapt from their chairs and hurdled toward the dark-haired woman that looked like them. Prue laughed out loud as two large bear hugs cascaded down on her.

"Oh Prue," Phoebe cried.

Piper's voice was muffled from where her face was buried into her older sister's shoulder.

Prue lifted her hands to cover the back of both women's heads. "I've missed you too," she said softly.

Piper pulled her head back, tears trickled down her face. "We have so much to tell you."

Prue wiped the tears aside, "I know, I know. I've always watched over you." She looked at Phoebe. "Both of you."

Piper tried to shake off her overwhelming feelings. She grabbed Prue's hand and pulled her forward. "Come meet the family. Look, here's Paige!"

Paige held out her hand for a handshake, "I've heard so much about you over the years," she said shyly. "I'm so glad I finally get to meet you." Prue ignored the hand and pulled her youngest sister, whom she had never been in contact with, and pulled her into a hug.

She leaned back to look into Paige's face. "Thank you for coming into our lives, you saved us. And I couldn't be happier to have such a wonderful baby sister." Paige could only smile, pleased beyond words. Wyatt and Chris stood back as the merry reunion unfolded further.

"How'd you know?" Wyatt asked.

"Near death experience."

Wyatt nodded. "I guess one good thing came out of it."

Looking at his delighted father greet his sister-in-law again after many years while his mom looked on, Chris wholeheartedly agreed.

"It's going to be a long night," he commented. He could not have been happier about that fact. He really had the best family ever. Although he needed some space for awhile to become his own person, he knew that he always had a place, and a loving group of people, where he would be welcomed.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

_**A/N: CUT! And that's a wrap folks. Please click on the 'Review' button to tell me what you thought of the story as a whole. **_

_**I have a special thanks to those awesome individuals that consistently reviewed most/all of the chapters (you know who you are). I really, **__**really**_ _**appreciated it! You were the main reason why I bothered to continue updating some times. If I could I would offer you a pile of candy inside a "You're awesome!" mug.**_


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